


I'm sorry, Deidara-senpai

by SweetAlphaChild



Series: Tobidei Week 2018 [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alien fairy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fights, Fix-It of Sorts, For Want of a Nail, I swear he looks like a space fairy when he becomes jinchuuriki, I tried to follow canon elements about the matter, Juubito, M/M, Peggy Sue, Reincarnation mentions, Time Travel, TobiDei - Freeform, TobiDei Week, TobiDei Week 2018, afterlife mentions, angstier than expected, based on Shinto and Buddhist traditions, but also added some of my own, idk - Freeform, obidei
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-08-09 15:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16452206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetAlphaChild/pseuds/SweetAlphaChild
Summary: It's impossible to change the world so radically. Maybe not even a country, or a village. But I can change myself, thus creating a difference so that others can finally start to understand each other. Wait for me. This time, I won't be an idiot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tobidei Week 2018
> 
> Day 5: Childhood
> 
> First chapter is being beta'd by AkaiDoragon-kun: https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11413017/  
> Thank you so much for the help provided ❤❤

"So you're from Konoha, let me tell you a story."

"Okay, let's see," Obito said.

"When I was four years old, I nearly die in the third war, hm."

Obito didn't want to know the details anymore, but he lacked a convincing excuse for why he changed his mind.

"Four years old. I thought it had finished by then."

"It was about to end. Anyway this group of ninjas from Konoha managed to infiltrate Iwa. Their goal was to kill the Tsuchikage, but this other group of them created a diversion by attacking civilians to create confusion where I was."

"I remember that. It was a Root operation."

With Deidara leaning on him, Obito took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. Despite sounding like a tragic experience, Deidara didn't look traumatized at all. He told it like someone who tells any other insubstantial anecdote. He didn't know what to think of that fact.

"I had insisted to my mother to buy me a toy in the market but she refused. I was angry, so while she was paying for some fruit, I ran away. That's when the Konoha ninjas arrived. The crowd stirred and everyone was screaming, I saw people around me being killed by those masked ninjas. Blood everywhere. I was scared, and called my mother but I couldn't see her. So I went to hide in a carpet stall."

Obito felt nauseous as he imagined the scene.

"The fabrics protected me, but I kept looking out to see when they left. I saw them kill many people. Some of them tried to fight back, but being civilians they didn't have a chance, others begged for their lives. They had no mercy with anyone. I wanted to close my eyes, but something prevented me from looking away from the scene that at that time seemed terrifying to me. On the contrary, I had them wide open, I couldn't even blink," almost by instinct, Obito pressed him closer to his torso. "Then a guy with a pig mask found me. He grabbed my t-shirt and put a kunai against my neck. I was so scared that I don't know why I didn't piss myself. I didn't say anything, and neither did he, but I remember not being able to stop looking at the details of his mask. Then his hand began to shake, he pushed me, he threw a carpet over me and left."

"What happened after?"

"I left when I stopped hearing screams. When they found me they took me with my mother. She choked me in a hug, and cried like I've never seen her cry. That's why I didn't tell her what really happened. In fact, you're the first person to whom I tell the full story, hm."

Obito's stomach churned painfully and his throat felt raw. The experience should have scarred him for life, that was clear. It left him insensible to death. Something common among people subjected to extreme experiences.

"Let me tell you another story. An Iwa shinobi did this to my face when I was thirteen. I almost died that day, too."

Sometimes he wished he did. Deidara leaned further on his chest, looking at his face curiously as he ran a finger over his chin.

"I see the third ninja war took a toll on us."

"It took a toll on everyone who lived it."

Deidara's thumb went up to his cheek, caressing the scarred surface of his face.

"But that made us what we are today. Otherwise, we would be someone completely different."

His partner was transgressing a line of intimacy with which he wasn't comfortable. Or rather, he felt too comfortable had it not been for the voice of his reason. Having sex with him was not the same. He could stay distant there, they both got strict gratification for the act and that was fine. Lately, there was something there like affection, and the way he stroked him told Obito it could be mutual. That caress had stirred something inside him that he had long believed dead.

Obito had to get away from him. No more games. If he was there, it was to prevent more children from going through what happened to Deidara or what happened to himself. So that no more shinobis had to stain their hands with innocent blood following a Kage command. Obito didn't blame them, nor those who were above, at least not completely, although they did have some responsibility in their hands.

The fault was within the system.

He withdrew his hand from Deidara's soft back, sitting on the futon. He heard him utter a whimper of protest when he forced him to sit up.

"What are you doing?"

He got out of the warm blankets and looked for his underwear, then his trousers, his sweater and gloves. Finally, he adjusted his mask to his face. He had to do it quickly, without thinking too much, otherwise the guilt wouldn't leave him alone.

"Where are you going?" Deidara insisted. "It was nice and cosy in there, hm."

"My futon," he replied more dryly than he would've liked.

"Oh. Okay," Deidara placed both hands behind his head like a pillow. "Good night then."

Obito swallowed thickly, looking away from that too-beautiful vision. He had to be be strong. Give up his personal desires. Remind himself that he was no one.

"From tomorrow on, this is over."

He hated that Deidara was slow to answer. After getting into his own futon, Obito turned his back on him.

"It's fine, I guess."

No. It wasn't fine. Not for Obito. His next sentence wasn't calculated, otherwise he would never have said it.

"You don't seem hurt."

Neither the bitterness with which he said it.

"What did you want, did you expect to see me crying, hm?"

"No. I'm glad you're not."

He was, with all and the disappointment of discovering he hadn't meant anything to Deidara either.

"Yes I am, you idiot."

It wasn't the words that pierced his soul as if they were kunais, it was the tone. He immediately regretted wanting to mean something to him. Obito needed to get rid of his remorse. He thought about reminding Deidara that he already knew how everything was going to end, and that he shouldn't have taken that step if it was gonna hurt him so much. He needed to get rid of that unbearable feeling of guilt before he went into cardiac arrest. In the end, he chose to shut up. It was the most convenient thing to do.

He would go back to the shadows. He wouldn't have to look for another partner for Deidara, given the phase of the plan they were in.

Why did he even have to be born?

_Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't apologize._

"I'm sorry, senpai."

The silence between them lasted for many months.

* * *

 

"So this was what you were after, hm. A war."

Obito told Kabuto that bringing Deidara back wasn't convenient, that maybe his power as an indestructible Edo Tensei would make his C0 a weapon too unstable; capable of wiping the battlefield out, including the jinchuuriki. Kabuto wasn't impressed about his concerns, and replied that the talismans were there for a reason. That Deidara wasn't gonna do anything he didn't want him to. His blood boiled at the thought of him being controlled by that repulsive being, but he had no choice but to repress his killing intent and agree. Deidara was nobody's, neither in life nor in death. He was one of the freest people he knew. He didn't want him to belong to Kabuto.

The second he didn't need him anymore, Obito would gladly kill Kabuto himself.

Obito finally dared to turn around and look at Deidara. Leaving aside the sickly colour of his cracked skin and his blue irises surrounded by blackness, Deidara was as beautiful as always. He didn't like not seeing his usual vivacity.

"Death doesn't suit you," he answered.

"You're wrong," Deidara moved toward him, watching him curiously. "It's what suits me the most, hm."

Obito felt an irresistible need to hug him, but he wouldn't. He also was resentful.

"You escaped," he reproached him.

"I didn't give a fuck about the Akatsuki. I don't know why it surprises you so much. Besides, I knew they would send Itachi to deal with me and I wasn't wrong, hm."

"You made yourself explode!" He said, raising his voice.

The pain he experienced when he saw the gigantic smoke sculpture was as intense as when he saw Rin die. Had he survived, Obito would have made Itachi pay.

"You sound like you cared about it."

"I did," he wanted to retort that his death wasn't an accident, that he chose to kill himself, if he had felt in a position to do it, nothing would have stopped him.

"Yeah. Sure. Look, I got what I wanted, and I put an end to my artistic career with the biggest explosion ever created, right at the top. Those who wait more become old glories and lose prestige, hm. I died at my best, and that's what matters."

"Is art the only thing that you cared about in life?"

Deidara glared at him with disdain and he hated himself more than ever.

"It's the only thing that didn't disappoint me in life. A war... You lived one, you should know what it means."

"New generations don't. A reminder of how cruel the world is, is necessary to get my message across."

"Bah," Deidara spun around to get away from him, "I'm dead. I don't give a fuck about your war and your motives."

Before he could even think about it, Obito was following him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at him, his blue eyes full of fury.

"This might be the last time we see each other."

"Fine!"

"Not a second goes by when I stop wondering if I didn't make a mistake when I left your futon that night," He took Deidara's chin with his gloved fingers and for a second, his eyes shone.

"You changed me for this. For me it's more than clear. I'll create some more art while the impure summoning lasts. See you never, Uchiha. Enjoy your war."

He deserved to lose him. He deserved to lose him once and a thousand times. Obito saw him go away, this time, without feeling worthy to go after him.

"Senpai..."

"Don't call me that!"

* * *

 

It was when Kakashi pierced his heart with his chidori, breaking the tag, when Obito started to feel remorse. He sealed the juubi in his body, but his determination and will vanished. Deidara was the only thing he could think of, how happy he had been with him at his side and what could have happened had he chosen him over his plan. His last conversation was constantly repeated in his head, his hatred, his rejection and resentment. Obito didn't deserve anything other than to disappear forever. He betrayed Deidara by letting Kabuto use him as a war tool.

The world didn't need the infinite tsukuyomi, as it hadn't needed him. Obito had done everything the other way around. He watched from the heights all the people gathered from every corner of the earth and whose lives he ruined. He had to put an end to it and to himself, too. With a few provocations, he angered Naruto, threatened to annihilate the human race completely, attacking his insecurities to cruelty. Until he lost control. Even someone like Naruto had a limit.

Dying at his hands seemed like an ironic way to end his life. Obito opened his arms and closed his eyes when he saw the huge rasengan turn in his direction. He smiled. He wasn't afraid, not too much anyway, but the need to put an end to suffering was bigger, the one he felt and the one he caused.

If he went to the same place as Deidara, maybe he could apologize at last.

* * *

 

Deidara wasn't there. Nobody was there in fact. He understood that spending eternity in solitude might be an appropriate penance. That had to be his personal punishment.

He tried to familiarize himself with the forest of dead trees he was in, it was going to be his home from that moment forward. He could hear a faint melody, like a requiem, while walking through the forest. Obito tried to find its source, but no matter which way he walked, the intensity didn't increase or decrease. Then he came to a clearing, he could see now a strange sun in the sky he didn't recognize, which illuminated everything with an odd violet light. In front of him there was a lake.

Maybe because he was going to spend a long, long time there alone with nothing else to do, Obito looked at himself in the reflection of the surface. He couldn't believe his eyes when he discovered in the middle of his forehead, a third Sharingan had opened. The one who was supposed to activate the infinite genjutsu by observing the moon with him. A bit too late, but he wouldn't regret his decision. However, knowing how close he had been to his goal just to have a change of heart at the last second sank him even more.

Not only was he going to have that third eye there forever, also the uneven horns on his forehead, the hair lacking color and those elongated hexagons in the right part of his body. To spend eternity not only isolated but with an appearance that wasn't even human anymore. Whoever was in charge of the punishments knew what they were doing.

A human figure started to emerge from the lake. Obito observed the scene with distrust, not knowing if he was facing an enemy or not. The newcomer sat cross-legged on the water, then he touched the space of water next to him with his staff.

"Come. Sit down."

Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Obito didn't understand how he knew who that person was and why he felt so familiar, but he didn't seem hostile. If that were the case, Obito wouldn't have been surprised.

He obeyed, sitting next to him on the water in exactly the same position.

"Why am I here?"

"You died as the jinchuuriki of the ten tails. That makes you acquire a special condition that prevents you from going to the same place as human beings."

The revelation astonished Obito. He always took for granted he was in hell because, why wouldn't he be there after everything he did?

"I see. So this is not my punishment."

"Things don't work like that in the hereafter, despite popular belief."

A small part of him wished there was still some kind of punishment. It was as if it had cost him too cheap to ruin so many lives.

"You're not the first person who got the wrong path in the history of the world. Nor will you be the last," the old man told him.

"That doesn't comfort me," said Obito. "Nor justify me."

"It does more than you think. Humanity wasn't yet ready for the ninshu I gave them. As a consequence, they misused it. It was always my desire to instill into the world a collective understanding that would bring peace, but in a race so spiritually undeveloped as the human one, resorting to violence to fix problems is even expected."

"That doesn't comfort me either. I pushed humanity away from that progress. The only thing I did was to go backwards."

"With each obstacle we become stronger. Maybe this had to happen to teach a valuable lesson to people, descendant of Indra."

After thinking about it for a while, Obito concluded that the statement wasn't correct.

"Without intending to question the value of the lesson, thinking about the past leads me to the conclusion that if I could go back, I would change many of my decisions. Even if by doing that people are left without learning this valuable lesson you talk about."

He dared at last to make eye contact with the sage of the Six Paths. He was smiling.

"If you learned from your mistakes, it means that the lesson was meant for you."

"And what's the use now that I'm dead?"

"Remember, descendant of Indra, that you have a divine power right now. And that time isn't linear. With your current power I can help you return, if you have enough strength to go through the same thing twice."

"I got it!" He exclaimed.

He had many things to change. That was a penance with which he was satisfied. He didn't deny that part of him preferred to curl up on the floor and never move again, but Obito couldn't afford to run away after all the mess he left behind. Hagoromo created a portal with his staff similar to that of his Kamui.

"Visualize in your mind everything you want to change, when you have done it, look at the portal with the rinnesharingan in your forehead and jump inside. You will be transported at the most optimal moment of your life to fulfill your purpose."

Obito wanted to change too many things. He wondered if that was possible or just another fantasy of his. But it wasn't the time to doubt himself, nothing was going to change if he did nothing.

"Thanks for everything," he said before jumping into the spiral.

There he saw himself, as a child, sleeping soundly on his futon. Snoring and one leg sticking out of the blankets. While his soul fell on himself, guilt invaded him. The other Obito's childhood was going to end even more abruptly than in the original timeline.

* * *

 

He woke up suddenly with an unpleasant sensation in his body, as if he had had a long, tiring nightmare. Except that something didn't seem right.

Obito came out of his futon and opened the curtains. It was raining outside and there was already light, although it was still pretty dark.

What were those images and experiences in his head? They felt too real to be a dream, it seemed as if he really... Had lived them. Like forgotten memories that finally emerge.

Then, his bewilderment gradually dissipated. He had really done all that in another life. He knew it for a fact. Minato-sensei, Kushina, their baby... How could it even have crossed his mind to do something so horrible?

He opened the window feeling he was about to suffocate and jumped out, wearing nothing but his pyjama trousers. He nearly stumbled upon several neighbours who watched him run by, barefoot and soaked, without direction. Everyone already had that bad opinion of him, Obito stopped caring if on top of being useless, they thought he was also mad.

Those strange visions and thoughts settled in his head. Attacking a baby, his sensei and his wife, his village, annihilate his clan, Rin's death. Madara. Akatsuki.

Now he understood a bit more, but he was reluctant to let it influence him. He fell to his knees in an alley that led to the stairs of the Hokages' mountain, Hashirama Senju's face right above him.

Maybe the other Obito would have taken those decisions, maybe suffering would have taken him down a dark path that he should never have taken, but he wasn't the other Obito. Yesterday...

What did he do yesterday? He hated it wasn't that clear anymore, because he had very fresh memories of having been fighting a great ninja war against the five nations as if it had happened a few hours ago. That wasn't what he did yesterday.

What did he do yesterday...?

Help an elderly widower who lived alone to remove the weeds in his orchard. Arrive late to train. Do a few stealth tests for the chuunin exams. Watching Rin while she ate lunch, onigiri with salmon, an apple and a bottle of strawberry milk. In that, in avoiding being caught watching her eat he was the best, the big loser.

Then he took a nap on his favorite bench. Rin woke him up when the sun was setting and they studied together a theoretical exam. He went home, dined, had a bath and went to sleep.

He mentally repeated all the actions of the previous day several times, each time more confused, then tried to say them aloud.

"I helped Mr. Tomura, I arrived late to train, Minato-sensei reminded me that the chuunin exam is coming, I watched Rin have lunch... I fought against the five nations, I died, I spoke with the sage of the Six Paths...No ... I didn't do that! I didn't do that!"

What was gonna happen to him? Was he going to die? Was the other Obito's consciousness going to replace him? Who was he now?

He burst into tears, terrified. He just wanted to live a normal life. He just wanted to be normal... But, how would he be normal, if he didn't even feel himself anymore?


	2. Chapter 2

He had all day to calm down and digest what was happening to him. He had no choice, really.

Obito returned to his house soaked to the bone, shivering and hungry. It seemed like an eternity since the last time he felt that annoying feeling of emptiness in his stomach. Nor that emotional fatigue. He missed his senju cells immediately. Curiously enough, that memory belonged to the other Obito. His experiences were already as vivid in his head as if he actually lived them in first person. Also, his way of thinking was starting to merge with his own.

Already in a calmer mindset, he left his house earlier than usual, going through a different path to avoid stumbling upon any of his acquitances. Team Minato used to meet at training camp number five, so for lack of anything better to do, that's where he went. He sat under a tree, half hidden between bushes to wait for his team.

The worst moments were the ones he had to spend on his own, with nothing to do. He discovered that morning that he kept the Sharingan, also his Mangekyo in both eyes, apart from the almost imperceptible vertical scar in the center of his forehead that told him that the Rinnesharingan was still there.

It was true that messing with the Ten Tails power changed you forever.

He wondered how Deidara would be in that world. According to his calculations, he shouldn't be older than a toddler. His story of Iwa's invasion returned to his mind. There were still two years left for that event and Obito was going to do everything possible so the Deidara of that timeline had a happy and safe childhood, without traumatic events. He owed him that. Thinking about him encouraged Obito in a way, but discouraged him further in another, given their last interactions. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the only thing that mattered was his safety and happiness in that time line. Deidara may be oblivious to his existence, but Obito was going to be there for him always, no matter what.

Rin and Kakashi arrived on time, he heard them chatting as they approached. Hearing her voice again activated some incongruities in his mind. The part that until yesterday made him feel floating when she was at his side, and the part that didn't see her alive in twenty years after dying at Kakashi's hands. The part that met and fell in love with Deidara. He wasn't used to feeling light headed, thank goodness he was sitting down.

"Obito?" He heard Rin's voice say.

He ignored how they were able to spot him, since it didn't seem evident he was there from that angle. His intention wasn't to hide from them, but perhaps he would have been less suspicious if he turned up late like always. Rin appeared before him, holding his broken goggles. To see her alive didn't seem real to him.

"Rin..."

Maybe it was the way he said it, or the way he was staring at her but the girl's expression turned worried.

"What happened to you?" She asked, alarm noticeable in her tone of voice.

"Nothing. What should have happened to me?"

"Why do you look at me like that, then? Something has happened to you."

Obito decided that looking away was the best thing to do, but then she waved his broken goggles in front of his face.

"And what about this?"

Kakashi stood up next to Rin.

"Why are they broken?" He demanded to know. "Why aren't you wearing them?"

"Maybe because they're broken?" Obito replied, defensive.

Obito bought those goggles to protect his eyes. His pessimistic side always told him he would never awake the Sharingan, but he didn't want to lose hope, either. He remembered how sometimes, he stared his reflection in a mirror in search of some change of colour. Taking care of his eyes became an obsession. He ripped off his glasses in a fit of frustration as he ran to the training ground, he squeezed them until they creaked and dropped them on the floor.

Maybe he should have disposed of them in a more discreet way. Now Rin and Kakashi knew that something fishy was going on.

"And how did they break?" Kakashi asked, his hands on his hips.

"Things break all the time, there's nothing weird about that. In the end, everything lasts less than we expect."

He shrugged. The change in tactics caused Kakashi to lose interest in him. He rolled his eyes and walked away. Rin on the other hand, stayed a bit longer.

"You're saying really strange things today."

Obito understood that if he continued behaving in an unusual way he would have to give many explanations. He understood he had to play another role, if he was able to achieve it with Tobi, he could do it again.

"Nothing to worry about. I should have stayed in bed until ten. Waking up early puts me in a bad mood."

Letting out a sigh, Rin gave up.

Minato appeared to let them know their task for the day. A rank B mission searching the surroundings of Konoha. He didn't notice anything unusual about him apart from the fact he had arrived early and "he was in a bad mood because he didn't sleep well," Rin explained. Minato never noticed anything. Obito avoided looking in his direction more than necessary or the remorse from the night of the Nine Tails attack wouldn't leave him alone all day. He knew he didn't have to feel it, it was the Obito in the other time line who carried out the attack, but it was disturbing to think he would end up doing that, however much he found it inconceivable.

The mission got executed without incident. After finishing, Obito went to his usual bench to fill out the report for Minato-sensei. He reported the small incidents and rolled up the parchment before putting it in one of his leather bags.

The moment he got up, Kakashi jumped from the branch where he was, right in front of his path. Obito was aware Kakashi was there all along but it would have been suspicious to let him know.

"I thought you were writing the report instead of spying on me."

"I can write it in a minute, it's not as if there was much to report. I know something has happened to you. And you're going to tell me."

Obito could even find it funny.

"I didn't know it was your business if something happened to me at all."

"You have awakened the Sharingan. Am I right?"

Obito had to admit to himself that he was somewhat surprised, and equally annoyed by the ease with which the damned genius boy had guessed one of his secrets.

"What makes you think that?"

"You have thrown away your goggles and you no longer care about them when they used to be precious to you, I haven't seen you using eye drops once in the whole day, you haven't asked Rin to check your eyes yet."

Well, it may have been something obvious that abrupt change in his routine. Obito would have to be more careful with that in the future. He forced himself to smile smugly, taking his hand to where his protective goggles used to be to readjust them just to remember that he no longer had them there.

"Actually, I have awakened it."

Kakashi's calculating stare lasted a long while.

"I always thought that when you awoke the sharingan you were going to make such a fuss that we'd never see the end of it. But you have decided to keep it a secret. Why?"

"Well, you don't want me to go around showing the enemy my ace up my sleeve during chuunin exams," he said, tapping one side of his forehead with his finger, that sounded like something Obito would say.

"Show it to me."

"No."

He couldn't just get along with him like that all of a sudden.

"May I know the reason?" He asked, giving an exasperated sigh.

"I don't want to waste it on nonsense. I save it for exams."

"That's not how it works!"

"That's exactly how it works, I am the Uchiha not you, and I say it gets wasted! Checkmate, Kakashi!"

He spun around to go somewhere calmer.

"How did you wake it up!?"

"Checkmate!"

He walked away quickly.

"Obito!"

He pulled the parchment from his bag and tossed it to him.

"When you go to see Minato-sensei, give him my report for me."

Obito ran away, not waiting for an answer. He thought about what he usually did at that time of the day. Usually he went to see what Rin was doing, or to help some of his elderly friends. Perhaps a more productive way to spend that time was to catch up with the events of the conflict with Iwa.

He went to a kiosk to buy the newspaper and some lunch, because he was hungry again. Obito tried to remember if it was normal to be hungry so many times a day. He wasn't sure anymore.

Then, he went to the newspaper section in Konoha library and made a pile of old newspapers. He also chose a few from the Iwagakure press, obtained by spies and also from other villages to see the focus they were giving to events. When he placed them on the desk to check them out, the librarian glared at him.

"Unless you bring back the manga you checked out half a year ago and pay the fine you're not allowed to take anything else," she informed him.

Obito had forgotten about the manga, but he didn't have time to deal with that.

"Oh, this is not for me. Kakashi Hatake has sent me to pick this up for an investigation assigned to him. Tomorrow without fail I will bring the manga back."

The librarian's face changed as soon as he mentioned his teammate.

"If it's for Kakashi-kun, then of course! He always returns everything in time."

He held back his annoyance and kept his fake smile. When taking out Kakashi's file, Obito saw he had checked a book out already; "Dying with honor" was its title.

He started thinking about it on the way home. His teammate needed help, he knew it better than anyone. He had watched him speak to his grave for years. Obito had heard Kakashi confess things he wouldn't tell anyone else to that piece of rock, over the years. Especially about his depression.

As in that time line Obito intended to avoid Rin's death and his own accident, maybe the problem with Kakashi didn't become so complicated, of course he wasn't going to let him join ANBU.

He left the pile of newspapers on the desk in his room and started to read by the oldest, activating his sharingan to go faster. He hadn't read half of them when he confirmed that it was almost all propaganda and very little objective information. But he wasn't expecting something different either. It wasn't going to be in vain, he was able to read between the lines. Obito would keep buying the newspaper every day until he had access to real information collected by spies, although in truth, he doubted he had access to it while he was a genin. Maybe not even getting promoted to chuunin would help him. He had to be at least a jonin and that wasn't going to happen soon. He considered the possibility of using Kakashi to access spy reports, if he could gain his trust. He was going to be promoted a few days before his birthday.

Obito switched his sharingan off when he heard the knocking on the door.

"Obito, Rin-chan has come to see you."

He glanced at the corkboard on the wall to make sure he hadn't left any of the photos he took without her noticing, embarrassed that he had even thought about taking them. The only one he left with Rin on it was Team Minato's one.

"Oh! Tell her to come in!" Obito answered.

His grandmother was already bringing a chair from the living room with her. He left it next to his so that Rin could sit down.

"How are you?" She asked, her eyes on the stack of newspapers. "You left me worried before. You better not be hiding anything!"

Okay. Obito had seen her angry before, not often but it used to scare him. He realized that the reasons that made her angry were similar.

"Why do you think that?" he asked, feigning to be nervous.

After being Deidara's partner, he became good at it.

"Because I can feel it. Remember Obito that I'm always watching," she stared at him with a frown, waiting for an answer.

Obito sighed.

"In truth... I am hiding something. I wanted to surprise everyone when I went to the chuunin exams and smashed everyone's faces, but the truth is that... I awoke the sharingan at last."

"Really!? Congratulations, Obito!" She exclaimed, clapping once. "You see? I told you a thousand times there was nothing wrong with your eyes!"

"You were right," Obito said.

"How did it happen? I expected to see you happier and more excited when you finally got your sharingan."

"Well, it wasn't under very happy circumstances... I had a nightmare. A very long, complex and realistic one. When I woke up, I already had it."

He couldn't tell her the truth, he wasn't ready. And maybe it wasn't necessary. He didn't know if the sharingan could be awakened like that, but nobody had any evidence against him.

"I see. So that's why you were so weird this morning. You should have said it! Maybe we could have comforted you."

Obito realized there was now an abyss between them. He was talking to a child when he no longer felt one, despite not having even changed his voice yet. Rin has been always more mature than him, but at that moment he noticed the difference.

"Rin, there will be things I'd rather keep to myself."

She didn't seem to like the answer, Obito had never contradicted her before.

"Don't say that, we're your teammates! You must trust us! It isn't good to bottle everything up, you have to vent!"

"I trust you two. But I feel more comfortable keeping some of my problems to myself. That doesn't have anything to do with trust, or lack of it."

"Okay."

Rin's upset gaze met his for a brief moment before avoiding eye contact. Obito felt guilty, knowing she was still thinking about the matter.

"But, those problems that do improve by sharing them, I would still like to tell you, if you want to listen."

She smiled again.

"Of course, Obito, don't be silly. I will always want to listen to you."

"Good, "Obito smiled back.

"Hey... Would you show me your new sharingan?"

"Of course."

He had refused to show it to Kakashi, but he allowed himself to boast a little, after all as a child he always thought about showing off the sharingan to Rin as soon as he had it. He activated it and let her examine it. Having Rin so close in his old life would have made him terribly nervous. It was a relief that it didn't happen anymore.

"I'm so happy for you. The Chuunin exam will be piece of cake now!"

"I hope it will."

"By the way, what are you doing with all these old newspapers?"

"I was just updating myself about the conflict with Iwa. When I'm a Chuunin they'll start to give me more dangerous missions, I just want to know what I'm going to face out there."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Also, a future Hokage must be well informed, "she replied.

"About that, I think I'm not so keen about becoming Hokage anymore," he said, looking at her sadly.

"But it's your dream! Don't give it up!"

People changed. And he was not the same anymore. He had understood it was useless to want to change the system radically. He would start by changing himself, if he could have such an enormous negative influence in the other time line, he could have a positive one in the actual one.

"Rin... I think I never asked you, but why did you decide to enter the academy?"

"You know that I always admired medic ninjas, I just wanted to contribute to make a difference."

"But being a shinobi is complicated and dangerous. When they start sending me to the front line I may have to kill, or watch people I know die. And when I become Hokage nothing will change in essence. I won't get my hands dirty, but I'll have to send others to do it for me."

"I know that. The first time I saw someone die I also thought something like that. Many injured ninjas arrive at the hospital, but for some of them nothing can be done," Rin muttered.

"See?. And the worst thing is that Iwa must be in a similar situation. Those people who, according to my mission I have to kill, have family and friends back in their village," Obito took one of the newspapers and showed Rin a vignette he had seen before in which two ninjas dressed with Iwa's Jonin uniform, ugly, dirty and with broken teeth were caricatured as unintelligent people. "We are only two villages full of people fed up with the war, but we risk our lives in it while the ones above us, the ones who started everything, sit in their offices safe from everything. You know what's the worst of it all? That I cannot refuse to do something I may not want to do, because from the moment I received this bandana I became a tool of the village."

"You really are acting weird today. But I see what you mean, only that they will send me to save lives instead of taking them away. I don't know what I would do in your situation. I may obey, and then cry until I'm fed up of it."

"Maybe I should refuse. I don't care if they accuse me of being a traitor."

"Don't say nonsense, Obito. I don't want to see you locked up."

Talking about the issue made his concerns surface. What if he couldn't save Rin on that timeline, either?

What if destiny was immovable?

"Imagine that we are going to a real mission, a rank A one. And Minato-sensei tells us that if someone falls behind, they're to be left behind. What would you do in such a situation?"

"I would come back for you," she says without even thinking about it. "I do not care if I'm a traitor, either. And the truth, although I'm afraid to admit it, is that there are more chances of me falling behind than any of you. But I know Obito, that you wouldn't leave me behind either."

"I see you've left Kakashi out of your sentenc. Do you think he wouldn't return if one of us is left behind?"

He knew the answer, but he wanted to confirm that Rin didn't fool herself, either.

"I think Kakashi-kun would return only if it was the most convenient thing to do to finish the mission," she murmured, he could see that the truth was hurting her.

"I think the same."

"But we should not take that into account! You already know why he thinks that way! You know what happened to the White Fang!"

Obito nodded.

"I know."

"If only I could reach him and make him understand," suddenly, her cheeks turned pink. "But don't get the wrong idea, I don't mean anything weird! I just think it's very sad to isolate yourself like he does!"

He wanted to bother her a little. It may have been a habit he took after pretending to be Tobi for so long.

"It's okay if it's something... _weird_ ,"he answered, and her blush became more noticeable. How did they go so fast from talking about serious things to talking about nonsense? "Leave that idiot to me. I will slap him and explain that we are more than tools. Even if we are ninjas."

"Is the slap necessary?"

"The slap is the most important thing of all."

Obito closed the newspaper in front of him and left it in the pile with the others. There was no point in continuing to read if Rin was gonna stay. He would do it later.

"I feel like I'm being a nuisance," she said.

"You will never be a nuisance. In fact, I was going to ask you a favor. You see... I'm somewhat worried about the Chuunin exams. Maybe the sharingan is not enough."

Rin couldn't help but laugh.

"Obito! You should trust more in yourself. There's no way you could fail now. Do you know the advantage the sharingan gives you over the others?"

So many years combining the Mangekyo with the healing power of senju cells was going to leave him at a disadvantage now. Obito knew the exam would be as easy as a walk in the park, but he wanted to get used to fighting with his new circumstances. With a body that wasn't going to regenerate every time he was wounded or heal his eyes whenever he abused the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan. His chakra reserves were also a fraction of what they used to be. In addition, he would ensure that Rin improved her fighting skills, which were her weak point. Obito wouldn't let her die again.

"Well, that may be true but I would be less worried if you helped me train. We could train daily if you have nothing to do."

"Okay... But I don't see how I can be of use to you. Kakashi-kun fights a lot better than me."

"Kakashi would complain a lot and put me in a bad mood in less than five minutes. I just need to get used to using the sharingan while I fight. And well, maybe it can also be useful to you. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

He nodded satisfied and went to recharge his shurikens and kunais. As he filled his bags again, he noticed Rin was lost in her thoughts.

"Something wrong?"

"I was wondering if awakening the sharingan changes people."

He swallowed thickly, feeling his throat jammed. His act wasn't convincing. He didn't think he could fool her. Not any more.

"I don't know, Rin. But it's possible that it does. Have I changed so much?"

"You're using words and expressions I've never heard you use. Making gestures that I've never seen you do. Behaving in ways in which you had never behaved before. Everything overnight... If it's for the sharingan... That means it's not a privilege as big as it seems."

Obito wished the other Obito had warned him at least, instead of dumping all those experiences in his head before vanishing. Maybe that way he wouldn't have gone hysterical and could have thought a better way to conceal his behaviour.

"You're right in that," he said bitterly.

Rin didn't answer.


	3. Chapter 3

"Very soon Kakashi will be jonin, and Obito chuunin. The hokage has saved for you arank A mission to gain real experience out there."

The anger and frustration that Obito felt was so intense he could even taste it. He curled his hand in a fist.

Minato-sensei was happy with the new him. In recent weeks he hadn't arrived late a single day, he was taking training seriously and was practicing on his own with Rin. The Yellow Flash didn't even question once the reason for the change in his behavior, beyond the anecdotal.

"What kind of mission?" Kakashi asked, saving him from having to do it.

Did that conversation happen on the other timeline? Obito was sure it didn't, he'd remember it. Seeing him more responsible and mature should have made Minato decide he could share the plan with them in advance.

"The merchants from the Land of Grass refuse to stop trading with Iwagakure and keep commercial exclusivity with us during the conflict. As a consequence of their refusal, we must take more forceful measures to avoid the enemy's supply. You three must destroy the Kannabi bridge, which connects the Land of Grass with the Land of Earth. That way, they won't be able to cross the Hachigawa River without having to make a detour of many kilometers. Trading with Iwa would become arduous and economically inviable."

"Is the Hokage going to send us to the border with the Land of Earth to a mission for which we aren't prepared?" Obito spat, not bothering to disguise his sullenness.

His sensei smiled at him, waving his hand to dismiss Obito's concerns.

"Everything will be fine, Obito. It is a low risk mission. You worry too much."

Obito had already been told several times he looked 'cute' when he was angry. He couldn't afford to keep looking cute if he wanted to be taken seriously.

"How do you know it's a low risk mission?" He insisted.

"It's far away from the battlefield and Iwa is too busy to keep an eye on the zone. They have their attention set on other things. Our trackers have already combed the area thoroughly. Also, I'll go with you to ensure that nothing is going wrong. It's your first war mission after all."

But Obito knew it hadn't been like he related. A bunch of ninjasfrom Iwa, big enough to overwhelm them in combat, were there waiting for them. He didn't understand why Minato-sensei would be so convinced that he was bringing them to a low risk mission. The trackers shouldn't have done a very good job.

"And what will we do when things go wrong and we find ourselves in an ambush?" He said, somewhat louder than before. "On whom will the responsibility fall when they separate you from us, and take Rin, and I have to argue with Kakashi because he has decided to destroy that bridge as the mission stated, leaving her in the hands of the enemy while we end up surrounded by much stronger and more seasoned ninjas than us?"

He took a deep breath, feeling short of air after the long flurry of words that came out of his mouth.

"Obito, you're being catastrophic," Kakashi scolded him. "Didn't Minato-sensei just say that the mission is safe for our level?"

There had to be a reason why those ninjas from Iwa were there waiting for them, even though Konoha was convinced the mission was safe.

"What if Iwa has spies in the area? What if there's a double agent within the village?"

"That isn't possible," Minato said. "The Hokage only surrounds himself with trusted and competent people."

Obito had to avoid being sent to the mission at all costs.

"And what about the people from the Land of Grass? Are we going to drown their economy because of a conflict in which they take no part?"

"They're always welcome to trade with us," Minato no longer smiled.

"Of course. Because the Land of Fire doesn't produce its own sustenance. We are one of the most fertile nations in the continent, they'll have to drop the prices to the rock bottom levels if they want to compete with our farmers! The Land of the Earth is a more arid zone where agricultural land is more scarce! And you know what the advantage for us after this plan is going to be!? None! Because Iwa pays well for their supply and if it stops coming they will give priority to what little they have available to the shinobi, since they are at war with us. They will let the civilians go hungry! Is that what the Hokage wants!? Originate a famine among innocents!?"

"You're a ninja from Konoha. Your duty is to obey what your Hokage tell you to do, just like the rest of us," Minato reminded him. "I thought you already knew this."

"As for the educational value of this mission, I don't see much of it either. If what you want is to prove us as a team after our promotion, the Hokage could send us to any other mission. Come on, we aren't even that close to each other, don't tell me you haven't noticed, Minato-sensei."

"Enough, Obito!" Kakashi shouted. "Do you want them to break your bandana? Because that's what you're going to achieve if you keep acting that way."

Minato nodded.

"What would your clan think of you if they break your bandana?"

"For sure, they'll think I am the shame of the Uchiha clan," he said, after forcing himself to calm down. "But, it's not as if they think very different now, so I wouldn't care in that aspect. I'd rather be a shame and a traitor than a piece of shit that lets his friends die uselessly."

He had never seen Minato-sensei like that, eyebrows furrowed, pursed lips, eyes wide open.

"Go home, Obito and think very well that this is the path you want to take. Because it will do you no good."

"Excuse me, then."

If he couldn't reason with him, he would talk to Sarutobi in person. But Minato-sensei was right in that he should be very careful about his actions. Having his bandana broken would be a major setback, it wouldn't be convenient. But in case things got ugly, he could always apologize, bow his head low and do things his own way in secret.

He hadn't walked two hundred meters outside the training field, when Rin and Kakashi cut him off, their expressions full of shock and outrage.

"What's wrong with you, Obito!?" Rin shouted.

"You shouldn't have talked like that to Minato-sensei!" Kakashi said.

"I don't have time for this. Sorry."

Obito tried to walk past them, but they prevented him from doing it.

"You must apologize to him," she said.

"I'll do it tomorrow."

He understood their anger, but had more important things to do.

"Since you awoke the sharingan you became a real pain in the ass," Kakashi said.

"Since I awoke the sharingan I have become aware of certain things."

"And was it necessary to make me look bad? Are you so desperate to earn brownie points with Rin that you have to fall that low?"

"Kakashi, you too! Stop!" Obito never saw her as furious as at that moment.

Obito knew that if he told them the truth, everything would make sense. It was tempting, but he couldn't do it for many reasons. What if they told somebody else?. That Rin and that Kakashi in front of him hadn't gone through many traumatic events as their other timeline counterparts, and Obito intended to keep it that way. Besides, he barely had the courage to look at them in the eye now, much less if they knew what he would have done had he not received the memories of the other Obito.

"You're not in your right mind if you think we are very close to being put under the earth in a wooden box and my biggest concern is to earn brownie points with Rin."

"Then why did you have to say that?"

"Because it's true!" He shouted, there was his slap. "And if it is not, then prove to me that I'm wrong!"

"We are Konoha's ninjas! The three of us! Our first priority is our village and that's the way it is!"

"Are you gonna wait to have to visit us to the cemetery to realize you care about us!? Is that what you want!? To live as a tool and treat us like another!? We may be tools, but we are also people! And if you're not willing to move a finger for us then for me you're nothing but crap and you make me sick!"

Silence.

It was extending for too long. Rin gave him a warning look but didn't dare to speak against it. Kakashi looked bewildered. Obito activated the sharingan, and before his team mate could even notice, he had taken the book out of his pocket.

"And this is what you read... 'To die with honor'... Is that what you're after? To live a shit life and die uselessly saving the honor of your village. To have a nice grave where we can, if we are still alive, visit you and bring you flowers while people remember for a while how brave you were. And then nothing. There will be other heroes who will die with honor as well as you. It never ends. The cycle never ends!"

He threw the book into a puddle of mud, to vent all the rage he was repressing.

"Hey, treat it well! It's from the library!" Kakashi complained.

Obito took out a packet wrapped in wrapping paper and tossed it to his chest. Kakashi grabbed it instinctively.

"I hope you open your eyes. Happy birthday in advance," he said before leaving, ignoring his calls.

The problems didn't seem to end that day for him. He managed to get into the building after telling the chuunin receptionist that his sensei sent him, acting casual and making use of their mutual trust, but he couldn't use that trick against the jonins from upstairs. He knew they wouldn't believe him.

"I need to talk to the sandaime."

"And what are your reasons, you runt? Are you trying to butter him up so that he might promote you after the chuunin exams?" One of them said.

Obito hated to be treated with condescension, he wished he could change his reputation faster.

"Hey Umaro. Who is this kid?" The other jonin asked.

"Minato's student. The only genin left out of the entire promotion. The one who says he'll be Hokage someday."

The other laughed, amused. For his own good, Obito brushed them off and just stared at them with indifference. He needed to see Hiruzen Sarutobi before the previous incident with his team reached his ears in a different way.

"I ask you please to let me pass. I have something important to talk about with the sandaime."

"If you have something important to talk about with the sandaime, tell your sensei and he will pass the message. That's the procedure. Who did you think you were to skip it?" The guy Umaro said.

Obito retreated, hearing their whispers and sniggers in the background. But he wasn't going to give up. If he couldn't convince them to let him pass, he'd try something different.

He didn't talk to Asuma often, but they had attended the academy together and they graduated in the same promotion. Lucky for him, he wasn't on a mission. He found him after searching for a while practicing with his team. The guy raised an eyebrow when he saw Obito approaching him.

"Asuma. I need you to do me a very important favor. I'll owe you a big one if you decide to help me."

Ten minutes later he was entering the Hokage's office before the stupefied look of the jonins posted at the entrance. Asuma explained Obito's request to his father, and after agreeing to see him, he left the office.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sandaime-sama. Thank you for deciding to give me a little of your valuable time. I apologize for the interruption."

"It's fine, Obito. It must be a serious issue if you had so much urgency to see me personally. Sit down."

The old man didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, he smiled at Obito, showing his usual cordiality.

"It's a pretty serious matter," Obito confirmed.

While walking towards the seat, he made a few hand seals. The Fuuinjutsu technique he was using would prevent any kind of noise to be heard outside the room. He didn't want those two eavesdropping. Hiruzen frowned when he realized what was going on.

"Where have you learned that technique?"

"I copied it from someone the other day," he answered matter-of-factly.

"I see you are making good use of your sharingan already. That you awoke it with three tomoe already is something highly unusual."

Obito didn't comment on that fact. He went straight to the point, telling him the argument with his team earlier that morning and his reasons for refusing to do the mission. Sarutobi looked so bewildered that it was hard to know if he was upset or not. The only thing he wanted to avoid was to be on bad terms with him.

"I'm not a traitor. I just want to understand the reason behind a decision that doesn't feel right, before my teammates lifes are put at risk."

"Obito," the Hokage paused, studying him with total attention, "I'll take for granted you understand that as a Hokage in a village at war it is sometimes necessary to make decisions that I would rather not have to make."

"I understand, sandaime-sama."

"And that at this moment I owe myself to the village and to the protection of the inhabitants from Konoha more than ever."

"I understand, sandaime-sama. But the Land of Grass, without being involved in the conflict, will suffer a lot from this. It's not fair that they get caught in the crossfire!"

"I want this war to end as soon as possible. After peace we will compensate them."

"And how do you know this is going to accelerate the peace process?" Obito insisted.

"You never know, but there is more chance of Iwagakure surrendering sooner if they run out of resources. Tell me one thing, why do you refuse with that vehemence to accept the mission?"

Obito had no good reason to tell him without sounding suspicius.

"I just have a bad feeling. I know it sounds stupid, but I think it's a trap. Maybe knowing Kannabi bridge is such an important area for Iwa and is poorly monitored doesn't quite add up."

"That's a good observation, but we're talking about hunches here. It's a risk that must be taken, nothing that isn't part of your duties as a shinobi."

"Sandaime-sama, "Obito was aware he sounded desperate, and that wasn't an act. "I beg you, don't send us to Kannabi bridge. I'm sure there are many other things we can do instead to gain real experience."

His current state of mind seemed to move Hiruzen, somewhat at least. If Obito was sure of something about the third Hokage, it was his weakness for those for whom he felt an emotional connection. Both his two sons and his first grandson were assigned exclusively to the most prestigious senseis. He had looked the other way when he discovered his student Orochimaru was carrying out repugnant human experiments and only moved against him when the scandal was made public. Years later, he wouldn't move a finger for the Uchiha clan, when the relationship betwen them and the village's leadership had deteriorated to irreparable. Hiruzen took the truth to the grave with him, afraid of how the scandal would splash him and the Sarutobi clan.

But Obito wasn't going to take that into account when he, in the future, would help Itachi in his task only to weaken Konoha and monopolize for himself the power of the Sharingan.

The only thing he had to be careful about was not ending up on Hiruzen's blacklist.

"Are you so terrified of going there?"

"It's not cowardice," Obito assured him.

Sarutobi looked down at several open parchments he had on his desk. One of them was a map of the area with several points marked with dots of different colours.

"My military strategists are responsible for the design of the operation. Are you saying you know better than them what is convenient for Konoha in this war?"

"Your strategists?" Obito pretended to be confused in case Hiruzen gave him some names.

"You've already met two of them out there. Umaro and Hotoki."

"I get it. Without intending to belittle their work... Sometimes whoever goes out there to the firing line to risk their lives, has a better idea of reality than two jonin whose task is to read reports and mark the steps to follow from the comfort of the tower."

"As someone who wants to be Hokage some day, you need to understand they have earned their place here."

Obito would investigate more about that, in due course. The outcome of the mission turned out to be very different of what they expected, and if those two had anything to do with the plan, he'd find out their intentions. They could be Iwa spies.

"I'm not Hokage. Not yet. But if the safety of this village is your duty, mine is to take care of my team and the only friends I have in the world, as you also do with those who are important to you like, your family, teammates and students," Sarutobi narrowed his eyes ever-so-slightly. "I want to propose you something. But it would require vote of confidence."

"Tell me."

"Send us another mission. Let's act as if the information about Kannabi bridge mission has leaked and Iwa is going to ambush us. You could leave them waiting there uselessly or you could raise the mission rank, send more qualified people and take them by surprise. And the most important. It would require not to reveal this change in plans to anyone, not even your strategists. Acting as if there was a double agent infiltrated in your trust circle is important.

"Is that something you believe possible?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "If my hunch is wrong, I will accept the punishment you consider appropriate."

"There's something in what you say that makes sense," while talking, Sarutobi activated his crystal ball and proceeded to watch something in it, Obito saw in the reverse reflection that he was looking at the two jonin outside, "I'm going to listen to you Obito, another hunch tells me that your theory is not complete madness. You speak too eloquently for a genin."

"Well, soon I'll be a chuunin."

"If everything goes well you will be."

"Although the truth is that I would like to get to Jonin as soon as possible. Sandaime-sama, if I show you a proof that my skills are Jonin level right now... Would you promote me? I know there are cases of genins that have been promoted on their own merits, without having to take the exams."

"They are very extraordinary cases," the Hokage assured him.

"I know," Obito replied.

"Do you believe that could be your case?"

"I believe it."

"You seem quite convinced about it. Now prove it to me. If you're right, I will promote you."

What Obito was about to do was a very risky move, but he needed to be promoted as quickly as possible to gain responsibilities and to have more control over the village's affairs. Also, to avoid ending up in the police force like everyone else in his clan, if that was possible. He leaned over the Hokage's desk and activated the Mangekyo sharingan. Sarutobi's eyes widened.

"That's... But it's impossible...! No Uchiha has obtained it in decades! Not even the most talented ones!"

"Nobody else knows."

"How did you...?"

"I got both at once, after an unpleasant, long and realistic nightmare."

"The Mangekyo Sharingan awakens by subjecting the brain to an extremely traumatic experience, it has its logic that in a bad dream, since one doesn't know that is dreaming until one wakes up, it could also work. Very curious indeed..." he mumbled after considering it for a moment.

"Have I convinced you, Sandaime-sama?"

Hiruzen got up and disappeared behind a door that led to an adjoining room. He returned a few moments later, with a chuunin uniform in his hands.

"From now Obito of the Uchiha clan you are a Konoha chuunin with all the privileges and obligations it entails."

"I accept the honor," he said in a solemn tone of voice, taking the uniform from his hands. "When can we start talking about my promotion to jonin?"

"I'm afraid that is not so simple. I need you to have more experience in highr rank missions to make an assessment of your performance. Minimum of ten successful rank A missions plus one recommendation from another of the Kages and a fight against me."

Obito started making calculations. It could take a couple of months to finish those ten missions. It was more than he had in mind, but he would have to adjust to it.

If he could, Obito would choose Iwa to get his recommendation. Going to the village to keep an eye on Deidara was tempting. Obito just wanted to make sure he was okay. Since it was an allied nation, most aspiring jonin usually went to Sunagakure to be evaluated. Asking not only to go to a different village but also to an enemy village without a compelling reason would raise too many questions. A part of him was disappointed to accept that he wasn't going to see Deidara again at least in a few years.

"All right, sandaime-sama. There's one more issue I would like to point out, if you don't object to it. I've already abused your time too much."

"Go ahead," Hiruzen said. 

Obito could see that his new behavior had intrigued him.

"It is a piece of advice that I would respectfully send to you as a member of the Uchiha clan. Open the Konoha police to all shinobi and allow the Uchiha to become more involved in external missions. Otherwise the discontent, the feeling of being discriminated against with respect to the rest of the clans will be increasing... And sooner or later the problem will be too big to be resolved."

Hiruzen's calculating gaze told Obito that he managed to alarm him.

"Is that what people talk about in the Uchiha complex?"

"I've heard some conversations, but their complaints aren't unfounded. The Uchiha have to see how others get more opportunities out there while isolating us in an overstaffed exclusive unit for internal conflicts."

Obito was convinced he already knew those things.

"The police forces was founded by my sensei, the niidaime Tobirama Senju, and he did it for a very simple reason. When an Uchiha experiences a traumatic experience, they're significantly more affected than someone who doesn't possess the Sharingan. The experience never fades as time goes by and neither does pain. Tobirama-sensei wanted to protect the Uchiha from this effect and thus took them away from the battlefield."

"It is a measure that could be good in times of the niidaime, but the situation has changed and now it's obsolete. If the only reason why you don't change what doesn't work is that, nothing will be solved. Show the Uchiha they aren't being discriminated against. Talk to Fugaku-san. Take one of the promising young children as student. Shisui for example, is not he the son of Kagami, your former teammate? Mentoring him personally would show the clan that they still have the Hokage's trust.

After being thoughtful for a while, the Hokage sighed, looking exhausted.

"I don't know what has happened to you, Obito. You've changed a lot very suddenly. But I promise to think about everything you've told me today."

"Thank you for your time, sandaime-sama."

After a respectful farewell, Obito put on his new uniform, undid the fuuinjutsu and left the office, smirking at the astonished faces of the two jonin guarding the door.

He didn't know if Tobirama Senju really wanted to protect the Uchiha from their own mind, or he was carried away by his personal prejudices. But Obito couldn't let such prejudices continue to cause harm in the current era.

Rin didn't look for him to train that day, and he decided to give her space, even though he worried about skipping the routine. Pleased to have avoided going to Kannabi bridge, Obito decided to take the afternoon off and go to visit his elderly friends, who had already complained about him being busier than usual. He spent the afternoon helping them and having tea and homemade cakes, playing with their grandchildren and all those things he used to do in good times.

Upon returning home, he felt watched. The persistent sensation of a pair of eyes following his every move wouldn't go away, and Obito activated his sharingan to see if he detected some movement. A quick examination of the surroundings proved fruitless. If there was someone watching him, they knew how to conceal themselves.

Obito put into practice the old trick of the chakra wave, wondering if Sarutobi would be looking at him through his crystal ball. If so, he was sure he could detect it. He concentrated a minimum amount of chakra in his hands, making the seal of the tiger. After a few seconds, he released it. If there was a disturbance caused by alien chakra in the environment, the wave would bounce back and Obito would feel the pulsation, warm due to his fire chakra nature in his skin.

He didn't feel anything. Neither the next two times, so he gave up. His behavior had been odd of a late, it didn't seem unreasonable if someone was keeping an eye on him. The only thing they would have learned from him was that he had spent the afternoon in the company of some elderly people. He didn't mind being watched, since he didn't plan to do too many suspicious things beyond what was strictly necessary. What bothered him was not being able to confirm if it was happening or not. His intuition hardly failed him in that sense but the test of the chakra wave said otherwise. He attributed it to not having Senju cells anymore. Having lost the few sensory skills he acquired could be making him paranoid.

Until he wasn't completely sure, he would act as if he had surveillance.

That night, he went to bed with the window open so that they could observe his not-at-all suspicious behavior if he was correct and someone was watching him. Obito doubted he could sleep.

With nothing to focus on, his mind began to wander to his memories. That last time he saw Deidara during the war, the hatred in his eyes and his tone of voice. It would never stop hurting. He wondered if he had any right to want to be part of his life in that time line. Regardless of his plans to keep him safe and allow him to live a happy childhood, Obito was torn between his desire to be close to Deidara again and his need to punish himself by renouncing him once more. After all, Deidara didn't even know about his existence anymore.

He didn't even know how he was going to make the war end prematurely.

From time to time, Obito activated his Mangekyo sharingan. With it, he could capture silhouettes through his closed eyelids. It wasn't as effective as the byakugan in that aspect, but at least he could detect movement. He didn't know what time it was when he saw someone emerge through the window frame. Ignoring sudden acceleration of his heartbeat, Obito continued pretending to be deep asleep. The only thing he saw about who was there was the blurred shadow of the upper part of his body against the light. The strangest thing was, that he didn't see any chakra. So he was right all along. There was someone watching him. And said person was exceptionally good at suppressing their trail. Obito had never seen anything like that before. He knew of people who could achieve the appearance of a weak and untrained chakra, like that of a civilian, but that was new to him.

The shadow disappeared, alarming Obito that would rather have it controlled. He turned off the Mangekyo sharingan and opened his eyes, only to find Umaro crouched on the ground. Obito took the kunai that he kept under his pillow and threw himself at him without thinking twice. The guy dodged him, kicking Obito against the wall. Stupid child's body. If he still had his adult body, the jonin would be at that moment begging for his life.

"Shit..." The jonin muttered.

"What are you doing here?" Obito asked, standing up while rubbing his aching back.

"What do you think? The Hokage sent me, I suppose now that you have discovered me, there is no point in hiding any longer."

Obito had expected that, but something about his behaviour seemed off. The standard procedure after being discovered on an espionage mission was to escape, not to stay there.

"Interesting conversation you had with him," the guy went on.

He liked the situation less and less with every passing second. The Sandaime had seemed willing to believe in him and give his theory a chance. Before disappointing himself, he considered the possibility that the guy was bluffing and acting on his own. Pretending to know more than you actually know is a common tactic to try to make people talk too much. Obito had used it himself. He had to find out how much he knew.

"But I was right, "Obito said, an ambiguous answer was the best.

"Well, you're just a brat. Don't think the Sandaime takes you too seriously."

"Maybe, but what matters isn't that. I got what I wanted," he was sure of it now. The guy was acting on his own. "Now get out of here. Don't you see what time is it?"

"I just told you I'm carrying out orders, you silly."

"I'll check with the Sandaime tomorrow. I don't care if you spy on me during the day, but while I'm sleeping, is... A bit creepy and unproductive, if you ask me."

The jonin left, after giving him a long, expressionless look. As soon as he was alone again, Obito closed the window and the shutters and used his kamui to teleport to the Hokage's office. It was the first time he had used it since the memory transfer and he noticed the slump in his chakra reserves. He should also work on that. It was annoying to realize the physical and combative deficiencies he had at that age every time he had to take action.

Obito knew the protections placed on the Hokage tower. He already experimented with them in his day. They were activated when crossing through them, but using kamui was safe.

Dodging the light from the street, Obito moved among the shadows and started to search through the archives. After finding the file with the history of Umaro and the other jonin, he memorized them using his sharingan and returned to his room.

Fifteen years of experience as a jonin, student of a Sarutobi clan member already deceased in combat. It's possible that the trust in him comes from there. As for the guy's loyalty, that was to be proved. Forty-two rank A missions, three rank S missions. A list of incidents and injuries that Obito didn't bother memorizing, except for a fairly recent one. Captured by Iwa almost a year ago, but rescued successfully.

That was the kind of information Obito would have expected from a double agent. The Hokage was going to see with his own eyes how his ambush theory turned out to be true. And after that, their credibility. Umaro wasn't going to be able to avoid being investigated and everything would fall under its own weight.


	5. Chapter 5

Fatigue led Obito to fall asleep not long after the man left. When he woke up, the slight uneasiness in his body, let him know that his dreams had been full of nightmares he had forgotten. He almost arrived late like in the old days.

Perhaps it was better that way, so he wouldn't have to spend too much time in the uncomfortable, quiet, and awkward environment of the training field with Rin and Kakashi.

Minato-sensei arrived very shortly after himself. He deduced while running to the meeting point, that he'd still be angry at him, especially after finding out he had skipped the protocol to speak directly with the Sandaime.

"First of all, congratulations on ascending to chuunin, Obito," he said, in a casual manner.

"Thank you, Minato-sensei," Obito replied, suddenly enjoying the situation as Kakashi and Rin stared at him.

He could hear their whispers of disbelief.

"Unfortunately, I can't be with you today, I have a sudden and important meeting to attend. You will train with Chôza-sensei and his team in field number seventeen."

The three of them nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Minato-sensei," Kakashi said.

His old self would have complained, Akimichi Chôza was a very strict sensei. But Obito knew that taijustu was his speciality, just what Rin needed to improve the most.

Did that event happen in the other timeline?

After taking a moment to revisit his memories, Obito noticed that it never took place. It was a new event, as a result of the changes he had been making. Having information about what was to come was his advantage, but he would lose it if everything deviated too much from the original timeline. At least until Kakashi's birthday.

As they walked to the new training camp, Minato placed his hand on Obito's shoulder. His firm grip made him stop while Kakashi and Rin kept going.

"Before I leave I just want to tell you Obito that I'm not upset about yesterday's incident, not anymore. Why didn't you tell me you also woke the mangekyo sharingan?"

"I'm sorry, Minato-sensei," Obito said, forcing himself not to look away, after the memories of their fight the night Naruto was born came to haunt him once more. "I had my reasons."

"I don't know what subject you and the Sandaime talked about to have caused all this, but soon you'll have to tell me."

"Caused all this?" Obito repeated, fearing something disastrous.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi has decided to resign on my behalf. Not many people know yet. When I'm Yondaime, you'll have to tell me."

"Already!? This soon!?"

Rin and Kakashi looked back. Minato was named Yondaime Hokage seven months before the nine tails attack, and that was still a few years away. Obito couldn't understand what was going on and his only theory was that Hiruzen was more than aware he wasn't doing certain things well, or he was already considering retiring and seeing his failures exposed made him rethink everything. It had to be something triggered by their conversation.

"What do you mean, this soon?"

Obito tried to correct his slip of tongue.

"I mean, so sudden. So, overnight... And in such a hectic moment."

"That was the same thing I said. Sarutobi-sama replied that his teacher once told him: there will come a time when you will feel that your time has passed. When that happens, it will be time to leave the world in the hands of the new generations."

A sudden and rushed decision. Obito was increasingly sure that this wasn't the first time Hiruzen had thought about retiring. He had to rethink what he was going to do next.

Obito nodded.

"Congratulations, Minato-sensei," he said, not even bothering to fake the exaggerated enthusiasm he would have shown under normal conditions. "Konoha needs reforms. Many reforms."

Put Orochimaru in a cell for all the clandestine human experiments he was carrying out in secret, remove political power from Root, modify the way the police force worked.

Negotiate with Iwa...

"It will take me a couple of months to prepare to succeed the Sandaime. After that, my face will be carved up there. We'll talk about work then, and I will listen to everything you have to say."

When Minato left, Obito hurried up to avoid his team's questions.

"Aren't you gonna tell us what the hell is going on?" Kakashi said.

"Chôza-sensei will punish us if we are late," Obito replied.

He wouldn't be able to avoid them forever, but everything was going very fast for his liking and he wanted to do things right. As right as he could. His fear of not being able to save them, always present, prevented him from appearing more relaxed.

Chôza sent them to warm up. Five laps around Konoha for a start. Gai joined them, refusing to miss a perfect opportunity to compete against Kakashi.

Obito let his team take the lead and stayed behind to avoid being disturbed. It didn't help him much, because a few minutes later, out of nowhere, Kakashi appeared next to him.

"I'm not here to argue," was the first thing he said.

"Good, because I'm tired of that."

"Let me remind you that you're the one the one that always starts the arguments."

"I thought you weren't here to argue," Obito retorted.

Kakashi took a deep breath.

"I've been thinking about what you said..."

"And?"

"I think you're right. It's easier to live as a tool, personal problems no longer matter. But I'm not being fair to the two of you."

Well, at least he finally noticed. That was progress.

"Live as a tool and there will come a day when you will regret having done it. You'll only hurt the people who care about you," Obito answered.

He knew it would be fairly easy to make Kakashi see sense. As if he had been waiting for someone else to point out what he already knew.

"I'm impressed how much you've grown in just a few weeks. I don't even remember when was the last time you called me Dumbkashi."

Obito shrugged.

"I can keep calling you like that if you want," he said with heavy sarcasm.

"No, thanks. Anyway, Rin told me you had a very vivid nightmare and that's how you awoke your Sharingan," he said. Obito pursed his lips. He knew what he was about to ask. "I want to know what you dreamed about."

"No," he asserted, stopping dead in his tracks.

He wasn't going to talk about that. Obito only hoped that Chôza-sensei couldn't see them. He wasn't gonna spend the day running laps around Konoha.

Kakashi had also stopped running, looking over his shoulder.

"And what's wrong with that? I don't see any reason against telling me."

Obito wished he would stop insisting.

"It was very unpleasant, I just want to forget about it. If that's okay."

"It was a dream, Obito. No matter how unpleasant it was, it didn't happen."

"Why do you want to know so badly?" He asked. Obito didn't want to sound defensive, but he knew he did.

"I think it's important, if it changed you like that. I wanna understand better what's happening to you and why you are so afraid of the future."

He thought, that maybe giving him some information would calm his annoying curiosity, but anyway, Obito wasn't willing to do it for free.

"I'll tell you something about my dream in exchange for you telling me everything you know about a jonin named Umaro."

"I don't know much. He's quite close to the Sandaime and a respected tactician. It's rare not to see him by the Hokage tower."

"Does he have a family? Is he married?"

"No and no."

"Where does he live?"

"I don't know. What's all this about?"

"I don't trust him," Obito said.

"Is that what you told the Hokage? It's not your job to investigate him unless he assigns the task to you."

Obito's patience was running out.

"I know what I'm doing," he said, a hint of irritability in his voice.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, giving him a long stare.

"I don't know what to answer to that without you thinking I want to argue. You trust your sharingan too much. It won't save you if they catch you acting on your own."

"Stop talking about it then," Obito complained, crossing his arms.

"Fine. Now tell me about your dream."

Rin appeared from behind, having completed a turn.

"Guys, Chôza-sensei sent me to tell you that you're in trouble. And Gai-kun told me to tell you Kakashi-kun that he wins this one."

Well, he already knew it could happen. Annoying, but not the end of the world.

"Tell me later, I don't want him to punish Rin, too," Kakashi said.

"I'll tell you along the way," Obito replied.

While they jogged, he had to put Rin up to date on the details of his unexpected promotion to chuunin. After which, Kakashi reminded him again about the nightmare.

"The dream started with us going together to a mission the day of Kakashi's birthday. It was an area marked as low level of risk and allegedly, everything was under control. Minato-sensei supervised us but Kakashi was in charge. Because it was his first mission after his promotion to jonin, the purpose was to test his leadership skills on a real war mission. When arriving at the destination, some ninjas from Iwa ambushed us, as if they already knew that we were gonna be there. The mission went wrong... Everything went wrong..."

Tears pricked behind his eyes as horrible images plagued his mind. He swallowed, but the lump in his throat didn't go anywhere. And Rin's worried stare didn't help at all. Safe. He'd keep them safe. And this time he wouldn't fail.

"It wasn't a normal dream. I know it."

"What happened after?" Kakashi asked.

"For the information provided about Umaro, I'm only willing to talk that much in return."

"I told you it doesn't matter, Obito! It wasn't real!"

"Maybe it wasn't, but the reasons for keeping it to myself aren't those."

"Did I die in your dream?" Kakashi insisted.

"No."

"Did Rin die?"

She turned in Kakashi's direction.

"Stop pressuring him," she told him off.

"I have trusted you more about my dream than anyone else."

Obito wished they understood what revealing those details truly meant. Kakashi at least, Rin seemed to do it.

"So, what you want to avoid is that on my birthday something bad happens to us, just like in your dream."

"Correct."

"Then we must train hard and not let ourselves be caught unawares," Rin added. "We can't let it happen. Not on Kakashi-kun's birthday."

In his head, Obito thanked them for not diminishing the importance of his concerns just because he had told them it was a dream.

After completing the five laps, Chôza put Kakashi and Obito to do hundreds of push-ups while Rin trained with his students.

Physical fatigue was something that Obito wasn't used to, he was gonna have some bothersome muscular pains the next day. Kakashi approached him again after they were dismissed. The sky was a fading shade of orange, and visibility was diminishing already.

"I'm sorry I exposed your feelings for Rin in front of her. I was angry, " he said. "I shouldn't have said that."

Did it matter anymore? Obito would prefer if the subject was forgotten and settled. He had caused so much pain to Kakashi in the other timeline, that hearing him apologize for such trifle thing even sounded tragic.

"Don't worry about it. As I said, I have other priorities now."

"I see," Kakashi murmured, after a few seconds. "See you tomorrow."

* * *

 

Already several days before Kakashi's birthday, Obito started losing sleep and appetite as the day approached. Lying on his futon, he was unable to put a stop to his worried thoughts.

Again trying to figure out how effective fate really was. Again thinking what he would do if in spite of all his efforts, he couldn't avoid the misfortunes that were to come. He wished everything was just his stupid brain, producing stupid thoughts, but there was a chance that everything was predestined to happen.

He should have asked the sage of the Six Paths about it instead of taking a rushed and blind jump back to the past. Obito would rather think, that Hagoromo wouldn't have let him start over if fate was immutable.

It was an unusually warm day for the end of the summer and Obito felt too hot with those extra blankets that a week ago, he took out of the closet. Fed up of twisting and turning, he got up and leaned against the window to watch as it dawned.

The day when everything changed forever was about to start. The day he died. If Obito hadn't acquired the memories from the other time line, he'd still be asleep, snoring in his futon without having any idea of what was about to happen to him. He'd be worrying about nonsense, such as why Dumbkashi always had to outshine his achievements with another much cooler, or why he got better gifts than him on his birthday, if he was such a prick.

At first, he hated receiving those memories. But in reality, if he hadn't gotten them, he would have ended up commiting the same mistakes. Obito was thankful now for having the opportunity to fix what he did wrong.

As Minato-sensei had told him, a more experienced group of shinobi would go to the Kannabi bridge. Instead, they had been assigned another secret mission scheduled for the next day: meet some Konoha spies in the Land of Earth to collect their reports and give them instructions from the Hokage and letters from their relatives.

They'd spend the day ahead practicing ninjutsu. Obito tried to shrug off a dash of guilt he was feeling. He was now the one who won every fight against his teammates. It was like cheating, since his experience was much greater than theirs. But Kakashi was inventive in fight, and analyzed his own mistakes carefully to correct them the next time. He was going to catch up with him very soon if he kept improving at that rate, much faster than in the previous timeline.

But that, he told himself, was a good thing.

He checked the time before leaving. Those sent to the Kannabi bridge must had left already. He wouldn't calm down until he read the report they wrote when they returned. Whatever the result, Obito would take a weight off his mind, even in the case where he lost his credibility. However, he was almost one hundred percent convinced that something smelled fishy in the whole issue.

The chances of peace with Iwa would diminish even more after his theory of the double agent turned out to be right. But the best thing Obito could do was solve one problem at a time. First, he'd work on his team's safety, it was easier and the most urgent thing at that moment.

A bit before reaching his destination, he caught an unusual sound behind him. Everything seemed normal to the naked eye, but a quick examination of the branches of the trees around him, made him notice he was being watched again. Unlike the previous time, his spy fled. Obito activated his sharingan, before chasing him from branch to branch. The guy was quick, if he hadn't had his sharingan, he would have lost him. But concentrated as he was only on him, Obito was able to follow his trail until he reached a clearing in the trees.

The green and rusty fence of the Forest of Death crowned by barbed wire, loomed four meters high in front of him.

A trap, Obito could see it clearly. Under different conditions he would enter the forest, but that very day, he wouldn't risk it. A feeling of doom began to take over him. The memory of what happened in the other timeline more vivid than ever. Feeling unpleasant chills running down his back, Obito grabbed the kunai inside his pocket, his eyes wide open. Ready to attack at any moment.

"Obito. I see that in the end you managed to avoid going to the Kannabi bridge, just as you wanted."

He spun around following the voice, holding his kunai up. It was that jonin again.

"What do you want?"

"I remind you that it's my mission to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything suspicious," he looked up at the Forest of Death.

"Is that so?" Obito asked.

"And why shouldn't it be?"

"Because the Sandaime doesn't trust you, maybe," Obito tried to provoke him. Hopefully, he'd make a mistake sooner or later.

Umaro's haughty expression broke into another of contempt.

"Pfft, what a pile of nonsense. I've been at his service for almost two decades, you brat."

Obito supposed that since the expedition to the Kannabi Bridge had already departed, there was no danger in raising the issue.

"If he did, he would have told you about the change of plans for the Kannabi bridge mission."

The guy didn't seem to like the answer. It had to be pissing him off that Obito was right.

"Hasn't your sensei taught you to treat your superiors with respect, you smartass?"

Smartass. It was the first time in his two lives that someone called him that. Obito took a moment to taste what in his ears was a compliment. A disturbing thought crossed his mind, not for the first time. Obito had been avoiding thinking about it. He wished he was wrong on that one, but something told him he might not be. As much as he'd rather remain ignorant, it was his duty to find out the truth.

"You're not my superior," he declared. "Let me ask you a question, whoever you are. Where is the real Umaro?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far ^^  
> Happy new year to everyone by the way!
> 
> When in doubt while writing about a character whose personality during the series hasn't been portrayed long enough for me to grasp how they would act in certain situations, I always check their star sign. That is the case of Rin Nohara. Checking her star sign gave me a list of personality traits I could work with, I just selected the ones I thought suited her the best. Rin is Scorpio, so I gave her a good intuition to sniff secrets out and well... I think I'm doing all right with her so far. She'll appear a lot in future chapters, so I had to think about this a lot.


	6. Chapter 6

His sharingan's tomoe transformed into blades. Obito sensed he wasn't gonna be able to leave without fighting. The stranger in front of him smiled, his eyes turning yellow.

"I ate him," he informed Obito, in a voice he knew too well. "You aren't fit for our plans. I better kill you and search for a better candidate."

Obito had a hard time assimilating the phrase. He had expected him to be a double agent. It did cross his mind that he could actually be Zetsu, after he noticed the lack of chakra signature. Deep down, he wanted to be wrong on that one.

But he wasn't. It was really him. And that implied a fact that chilled him to the very core.

"Zetsu," he growled, charging toward him.

His target disappeared under the earth. Obito was gonna have a difficult time detecting him. Since he no longer had Senju cells, he had lost his affinity to wood release. Hostile thorny vines sprouted from the ground. Obito dodged them without problems and using a kunai he cut them, not without struggling. Some of them managed to touch him, scratching his skin. He felt another adrenaline rush when he noticed the cut in his arm burned with unusual intensity. In the areas of the vine stained with his blood, pink flowers began to sprout.

Obito knew Zetsu's fighting style and techniques inside out. But he didn't know that one. What could have triggered that change?

He decided, the best he could do was to burn him. Those flowers were starting to emit a dizzying aroma. An olfactory genjutsu he wasn't going to be able to break with his sharingan. Still dodging vines as if he were playing a deadly version of some children's game, he made the fireball jutsu hand seals at high speed and spat the massive flare in the direction of the vines which immediately caught fire.

As they were still moving, Obito leaned back, watching as they burned. The air was full of pollen and he tried to avoid breathing it. Among the vines consumed by the fire, a closed bud the size of a person sprouted from the earth. It opened, showing red petals like blood in the center of which was Zetsu, laughing amused.

"What kind of technique is this!?"

Zetsu stared at him.

"In times of war the spilled blood of the fallen waters the roots of the first jubokko tree making it stronger! Making me stronger!"

Obito was already quite dizzy despite having avoided breathing in that polluted air. The ground split under his feet, as more roots came out of it. To dodge the next attack, he teleported with his kamui behind Zetsu and spat another fireball, intercepted by the petals that surrounded him. Zetsu detached himself from them and made the ground tremble by shaking his roots.

Obito refused to think his true end was about to come. It couldn't be that his attempt to fix everything would result in everything getting worse still. Zetsu had understood he wasn't going to achieve anything if Obito could read his movements and was focusing on attacking from below the earth. When going to climb a tree to take that adantage away from Zetsu, he got whipped in the face. A vine caught his legs and one of his arms. As soon as he got rid of that one, another one replaced it. The echo of that laughter stuck in his mind that grew confused by the second.

"Where are your friends? Why aren't they coming to rescue you? I'll tell you why! They don't care and they're probably be happier without you!"

Obito knew it wasn't true, although the words hit him where it hurt most.

He couldn't die like that, he had a mission to fulfill. Ignoring the pain and doing his best to focus his mind, he used his intangibility to escape. He had to do it for everyone, for Rin and Kakashi, for Minato-sensei, Kushina and their son, for Deidara. That would be the end of Zetsu.

Obito fell on his knees to the ground, a teal aura started to envelop him, vines and roots crashing against it. Obito didn't understand what was happening. His dizziness subsided and he managed to stand up, panting. A huge fist of the same color as his aura fell on Zetsu.

"Susanoo," he mumbled, when he understood what was happening. Of course, he had two sharingans now. His susanoo had come out to protect him. "Thank you..."

He felt powerful like he hadn't felt since he transformed into a jinchuuriki. A small black ball formed in his hand. Gudōdama? Obito didn't understand why.

"Obito! Hang in there!" He heard Kakashi scream.

Kakashi and Rin were running toward Zetsu. He, with a chidori in his hand; she, making the hand seals of a fire technique Obito had taught her during their training sessions.

"Don't! I will do it!"

Zetsu was his.

The susanoo squeezed the artificial human's body who didn't seem to understand anything. Rin's attack, the spiral of fire, went straight to the roots as Kakashi launched himself at Zetsu, the bright ball of lightning screeching like a flock of a thousand birds. He saw flames, also lightning, and Rin passing inside the susanoo's aura to go to hisside.

"Obito! Are you okay!?"

The next second, Rin had stopped on her tracks. Her eyes wide open and unfocused, as if she just fell under a genjustu.

"What is... that...?" She mumbled.

"What is what?" Then she covered her mouth with her hands. "Rin, answer to me!"

But when he looked at Kakashi he noticed he was in trouble, bleeding but still fighting against Zetsu. Obito advanced, the Gudōdama sphere in his hand taking the form of a bow and an arrow. He tightened the rope, aimed at Zetsu's head and fired.

Screaming, he withered, forming a tree with a dark trunk, ugly and twisted but inoffensive at last.

All the fatigue came to him at once along with the adrenaline crash. Kakashi limped, bleeding wounds in his arms and face, Rin still didn't react and Obito didn't think he could reach the hospital without assistance.

"Cure him first," he told his team mate when she turned to him, her head miles away.

At least, if Kakashi could walk well, he could lean on both to get to the hospital and receive medical assistance. He sat on a stump while his dizziness subsided.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked.

"Umaro," Obito said. "Or at least, the creature that replaced him."

Alerted by the glow of his susanoo, the reinforcements arrived late, but at least they could be taken to the hospital. Both Obito and Kakashi were sent to the same room, their beds next to each other. Rin stayed too to check on them as medic nin in training. As soon as Obito healed, he would have many things to answer, but until then, he had a lot to think about. After all, the fact that Madara had him framed was only logical. Analyzing himself, Obito could see he was a perfect target to break and rebuild at Madara's convenience. He used to be clumsy and dumb. He used to have a big heart, ready to harbor the biggest curse of hatred of them all. Madara also had a point to prove, and for that he needed someone like him. No one else could serve his purpose.

But the three of them were alive, and nothing could ruin the happiness he felt at that moment. He would leave aside his new discovery to analyze it on a different occasion. They were alive and that only could mean that fate wasn't absolute, and that was a good thing. Maybe it didn't even exist.

"Nothing happened this time," he mumbled, leaning on the bedhead, unable to contain a smile.

"So positive," Kakashi said. "You who always see the glass half empty."

"At least you still have two eyes," he replied, not expecting him to understand. "At least... We're all in one piece."

"It was a crappy birthday anyway," Kakashi muttered.

"I should bring the cake I baked yesterday. And the presents. We can still celebrate it. Kakashi-kun's birthday and that the three of us are in one piece."

"Did you really bake a cake?" Obito asked. "Yes, you should bring it. By the way, Kakashi, did you read the book I gave you?"

"I haven't opened it yet," he said. "I wanted to do it today."

"It's a comedy book. If I decided to give it to you a bit earlier, it was to cheer you up a bit so you stop reading depressing stuff."

"By the way, they told me to tell you to go to the library to pay for the book you ruined. Remember? They were't very happy when they discovered you were checking stuff out using my name."

"You betrayed me Dumbkashi. What are friends for?"

"Friends don't go around ruining impeccable library histories either."

Contrary to what had been usual, Rin didn't intervene. She wasn't even paying attention, her eyes were fixed on the ground, her gaze defocused.

"Is everything okay, Rin?

The question pulled her out of her trance.

"You both should rest. Then I'll come back with the cake and we'll celebrate Kakashi's birthday," she said before leaving the room at a brisk pace.

* * *

Obito woke up in the middle of the night from a strange dream. Hagoromo was talking to him, although Obito didn't remember anything about the conversation. Kakashi slept in the adjoining bed and Rin, dressed in hospital uniform, was sitting on a chair, leaning against the windowsill, half-hidden by the curtains. It looked like a very uncomfortable posture, so Obito got up to ask her to go to bed.

"Rin, wake up," he whispered, moving the curtain out of his way.

"I'm not asleep," she replied.

She changed positions, resting her arms on the windowsill and her chin on them. Something was wrong, Obito could tell. In order not to disturb Kakashi's rest with their conversation, Obito casted the fuuinjutsu technique again.

"You've been acting strange. Is there something worrying you?"

Rin took a few seconds to answer, which only contributed to worsen the slight anxiety he was feeling.

"When I went to help you, you had a big sharingan in the middle of your forehead. What was that?"

"S-sharingan?"

How had he managed to open it? After arriving to that timeline he had tried, but he was never able to. A fragment of the conversation with Hagoromo in the previous dream came to his mind. He congratulated him for changing the events and avoid the consequences he wanted to get rid of. The Sage and Obito seemed to be connected through the ten-tails chakra in his body.

He remembered those two Kumogakure criminals. Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who obtained the kyubi's chakra after ingesting the insides of Kurama. It seemed that in a extreme situation, pearhaps, the Rinnesharingan had activated. He was concerned about the effects it could have had on Rin. Obito took his fingers to his forehead, he could feel the crack behind which was the third eye, firmly closed like an old scar.

"And when I looked at it, I saw your dream. The nightmare you told us about... But I saw everything from my point of view."

Obito swallowed thickly. One of his self-imposed missions was to protect his friends from that timeline, it was something they didn't have to know as it would only bring them pain and disappointment. Now that Rin knew, he couldn't lie to her if she asked him for more information.

"It was exactly as you told us, we went to the Kannabi bridge mission... I saw you die, it was my fault for letting them kidnap me. Kakashi and I tried to move on without you, but he was getting more and more depressed as the days went by. Also more obsessed with my safety after you made him promise you'd keep me safe, making me train to exhaustion and learn new ninjustu. Then they kidnapped me again. I knew they had done something to me, and I could feel... that whatever they sealed in my body was trying to control me and then... I... Kakashi-kun..."

His body shivered, Obito couldn't bring himself to talk again.

"Why is that in your head, Obito? Why is it in mine now...? Has all this really happened? It feels like real memories."

It wasn't in his plans to inform anyone of the old timeline. In that new opportunity, everyone deserved to live without carrying that weight, ignoring what a big piece of shit he had been.

"Yes, it really happened," he confessed, Rin didn't seem that shocked, as if she had already accepted it. "In another timeline from which I came back. Rin, I'm no longer the Obito you know."

"Now you are," she said, absorbed in her thoughts. "Because now I know what I needed to know to understand what's going."

"You're wrong. You don't know. I did terrible things. After your death I fell as low as someone can fall. I let go of my beliefs and values. I got rid of my very identity while trying to become a mere tool. Not even feeling the temptation to open my heart again to others led me away from my goal."

"You are meddling with fate itself, Obito. I don't know how you did it, but it sounds difficult and complicated. You have returned to save us and that is what matters," her words calmed him somewhat, until Rin spoke again. "You should tell Kakashi-kun too."

"He wouldn't be as understanding as you. I practically ruined his life and the lives of everyone important to him. It would make all the sense if he hated me. I want to protect him from the pain of those memories as I wanted to protect you. I can't be lecturing him about friendship and bonds only for him to find out that I was the one who betrayed those principles in the worst way possible."

"I think he would forgive you. And if he had a choice, he'd rather know the truth."

"I won't give him a choice," Obito said. "He deserves to live without that in his head."

Deidara told him the last night they shared together, that it was one's experiences that made people be the way they were. Since Obito planned to avoid many painful events, Kakashi might end up being a different person than the one Obito knew. At that moment, the only thing that mattered to him was his well-being.

"I have a lot to work on yet. There are more stuff I want to change, if I can. Please, keep this information secret."

Despite looking unsure, Rin nodded.

"I don't completely agree with your decision. But I promise you I will.

* * *

g

It was three years after that day when he saw Deidara again for the first time. During the first chuunin exam hosted by Iwa attended by Konoha ninjas after the peace.

"Remove your bandanas for now," Rin instructed the group of genin as they passed through the stone wall of the village hidden in the rocks.

The group of six kids obeyed while Rin and Obito took off theirs as well. That symbol still rekindled hatred from a war that, thanks to the mediation of the Yondaime Hokage, had ended two years earlier than in the original timeline.

Obito was proud of having been able to avoid at least that horrendous scene that Deidara once spoke to him about. Guiding the genin through the peripheral roads of the village, he examined the surroundings with great attention, looking for some sign of him.

On the way to the building where the first exam would take place, they passed through the commercial district of the village. Activating his sharingan while keeping an eye on the Iwa jonin escorting them to avoid offending them, Obito continued scanning the place carefully, looking for any blonde small children. He was sure he could recognize him among thousands, although there didn't seem to be many blonde people in that place to begin with. His heart was beating quite fast. So much time without any news of him, not being able to confirm if he was fine or not. Finally he had the chance.

"Stop playing with that!" Rin told one of the genin off, who was playing with a bubble bottle.

To avoid further distractions, Obito confiscated it.

"I'll give it back after the test," he told them in response of their protests.

And when he went to save it in the pocket of his vest, he saw him. He wasn't even one meter high, but those feline eyes, as blue as the sky above and that long golden hair were unmistakably his.

"Deidara..." he whispered, the sudden emotion blurring his vision.

Before he could disguise the tears that pooled up in his eyes, Rin had already noticed.

"What's wrong, Obito? Why are you crying?" she whispered with concern.

He couldn't answer, he was too busy smiling. Too affected by the immense happiness he felt by seeing Deidara in front of him after so many years. Obito wanted to approach him, say hello and give him a huge hug despite having no good reason to do so.

Longing for his attention, Obito opened the bottle of soapy water, removed the plastic ring and blew. He repeated the action until the air was filled with soap bubbles which scattered in the air in all directions. He heard behind him the genin complaining about Obito doing precisely the very same thing they had been told off for. But he couldn't bring himself to care, because at that moment Deidara noticed the bubbles and started to stretch his arms up, wanting to catch them. He heard Deidara call his grandfather's attention and ask him to raise him in his arms so he could get to them better. The old man obliged and Obito kept blowing bubbles, looking happy as Deidara made them pop by touching them, listening to his laughter. 

And Obito had a hard time breathing through his congested nose, but that was the least important thing in the world.

"Now, now, Deidara," the grandfather said. "These people are going to get mad if you pop all their bubbles."

"Not at all!" Obito rushed to say. "Someone told me once that art is fleeting..."

Deidara looked at him with curious eyes. Smiling as ever, Obito greeted him with his hand.

"Grandpa, why is he laughing and crying at the same time, mm?" Deidara said, pointing at him.

"I'm not crying!" Obito exclaimed. "It's just the wind."

The six genin whispered among themselves, commenting on his strange attitude.

"Do you cry because you got a boo-boo on your lip?" He asked, pointing at the scar he earned after fighting against white Zetsu.

"Don't be impertinent, Deidara," his grandad said. "Apologize now."

Suddenly shy, Deidara looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled reluctantly, only to stretch his arms toward Obito two seconds later.

Obito made eye contact with the old man, seeking his approval. As soon as he saw him nod, he picked Deidara up. Iwa's jonin didn't take their eyes off him, but they didn't intervene.

"So your name is Deidara," Obito said. "It is a very nice name."

"It's the name of a giant monster that lives in the mountains, hm," he said and at his side, he heard Rin's laugh. The next second, Deidara had reached into his waistcoat pocket, taking it out again full of candy. "Can I have them?"

"Deidara!" his grandad yelled, not without a bit of weariness, Obito noted. "You are'nt behaving today. What's mummy going to think about that?"

But Obito would have brought down the moon from the sky if Deidara had asked for that, so he was more than willing to part with his sweets.

"Sure, all for you, senpai!"

He kept them there to give to the genin every time they deserved a small prize. Obito had a reputation for being very strict and stingy with candy. Probably the reason why, when they saw how the Iwa child had taken at least half, Obito started hearing their loud complaints.

"What do you say?" his grandad said.

Deidara put his free hand in Obito's other pocket, taking out a few more lollipops.

"Thank you!" He said with a big smile.

After returning him to his grandfather and begging him not to tell Deidara off, the group of Konoha ninjas went on their way. His team sounded outraged after losing their treats, Rin was confused and Obito's smile still wouldn't leave his face. Now he was sure about his safety, he started to come back to reality. And why was he in Iwa in the first place? Something about the chuunin exams.

"That child... You've met him before, right?" His former team mate asked, a while later. "Who is he?"

"My senpai," Obito replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While gathering references about Zetsu before writing this part, I got reminded he was a human being who got trapped in the first infinite tsukuyomi casted in the Earth. I learned that the tree that sprouts from the ten-tails is based on a Japanese yokai called jubokko. So I thought, maybe I can make the remains of this tree some kind of supreme jubokko.  
> Because jubokkos get stronger in times of war, as they feed on spilled blood from dead soldiers, and at that moment they were at war times, I thought I could make Zetsu stronger too to take Obito off guard.
> 
> I've seen before that headcanon about Madara framing Obito. I thought about it for a while, and I came out to the conclusion that it made sense. Yes. Madara could have hired some mercenaries. Madara could have found out there someone evil enough and ambitious enough to want the power of the juubi from themselves, no matter the cost. But he had a point to prove to himself. I have the feeling that Madara believed Izuna's death messed him up forever. He needed to mess someone up too and destroy the kindness in their hearts. Someone from the Uchiha clan. The kinder, the bigger curse of hatred. And Obito was perfect for the job. So I thought, maybe using his Zetsus, he framed Obito and lured him to his trap, which was in Zetsu's interest too. The more I thought about it, the accident just didn't seem a fortuitous event anymore. 
> 
> There's been a time skip, as I had nothing interesting to tell. Yes. Iwa had intel on Team Minato mission in the first timeline. Zetsu gave them that intel. But because the third Hokage kept it secret, he wasn't able to inform Iwa on time of the change of plans. Instead, he went to kill Obito, since he wasn't a useful candidate for the project Tsuki no me anymore.
> 
> After that, peace came. Minato reformed the Konoha police, Obito and Rin eventually became jonin and Team Minato split to form their own genin teams.
> 
> Hope you have liked this chapter. ^^


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter has a supernatural hint. Nothing that hasn't appeared already in Naruto. People who die stay there to watch over those who are still alive. Minato and Kushina stayed behind, Sakumo stayed behind. The series also mention reincarnation between souls that still have unresolved issues and keep coming back together in order to find peace. Like Indra and Asura. So I've mentioned it here.  
> Oh and so you know, the bell chime Obito was hearing in this chapter was that of a "rin bell" from a temple.

"I've got one more memory I never told you about," Rin said.

They were returning home after the chuunin exam, where one of the kids got a promotion. Being honest with himself, Obito was surprised that they weren't treated in an unfair way just because they came from Konoha.

Obito spun around when he heard Hana Inuzuka yell at her teammates. She couldn't become a chuunin and one of her dogs had suffered serious injuries. Hana was still furious about it. He could understand her anger, he felt the same the first time he failed. Also the second, and the third.

"Konoha's Chuunin Exam will be in three months," Rin said. "I'm pretty sure you'll make it soon, Hana."

"I was representing the Inuzuka clan! I had to leave a good impression!"

"And you will. Next time," Obito said.

He had to admit that for her age, Hana was doing more than well. It was always like that with shinobi from prestigious clans.

The sudden interruption prevented him from asking Rin about that memory she was talking about. He understood that while the kids were around they weren't gonna be able to talk about it in peace. It felt weird, Rin never made those kind of comments out of the blue. Obito tried to think about the reasons behind it, but nothing came to his mind.

"As soon as we cross the border with the Land of Fire, we'll be setting up a camp," Rin told him. "We'll talk later."

It was getting dark when they set up the tents and made a bonfire to warm up and cook dinner. Obito waited for the kids to go to sleep to bring up the subject. A bitter pang of guilt settled in his gut when he thought about how many times he refused to answer some of Rin's questions about his past life, in case she hated him. It didn't feel fair. He told himself, that maybe he should tell her more details in the future.

"What did you want to tell me earlier?" He said, the cup of herbal tea warming his cold hands. "About that memory you never told me."

"I always debated whether to tell you or not," Rin began. "Almost all my memories came back to me at once. Like when your clone vanishes and their memories come back to you... Only that the amount of new information in my head was huge."

"Yes," Obito admitted. "Exactly like that. A kage bunshin disappears and their memories start to jostle your own to fit in. It took me hours to adjust."

Rin nodded.

"A clone only works for a few minutes and it's already confusing. Imagine years of memories, " she sipped her tea. "This one in particular started very blurred and hazy. At first I didn't know if it was a memory or a dream... But when I started to delve deeper into it, it became clearer and clearer. It's a memory from after my death."

"Is that possible?" Obito asked.

"It's complicated. I had to make a big effort to rescue it. When I died, a shinigami told me that I could stay behind watching over someone. I chose Kakashi-kun... I thought we could take care of him together from the other side. I forced him to kill me, I wanted to make up for that. But the shinigami explained to me that someone was already looking after him. I thought it was you, until he told me it was his father, Hatake Sakumo. I looked for you everywhere, but I couldn't find you. Then I went to King Enma, it was scary at first but he was actually very kind. He told me that if you were in the afterlife he would know, which meant that you were still alive."

The idea that Rin knew more than he thought she knew alarmed him. Maybe all this time she was aware of everything he did.

"What happened after?" He said, feeling exposed.

"I argued with King Enma. I told him it couldn't be, that I saw you die and the cave fell on top of you. Although later I remembered... That when an ANBU team returned to Kannabi Bridge to retrieve your body and bury you, someone had arrived earlier. The Uchiha clan didn't like to know that there was a sharingan potentially in the hands of the enemy. There was an investigation to find out what happened to your body and your other eye, but you know how messy war times are. There were many issues like that already. At the time of my death, no one had ever heard again of the lost sharingan. That's how I found out you were still alive."

"Sometimes I wished I wasn't," Obito muttered. "Did you see me from the other side?"

"I was happy to know you were alive, but then I found out that you had witnessed my death. I wanted to protect the village from the bijuu they sealed in my body, but I did it at the expense of the sanity of my teammates. Since then my mood declined. I became obsessed with the idea of asking for forgiveness... Something dangerous when you're dead."

"Dangerous?" Obito asked, intrigued.

"A shinigami came to talk to me. He told me that if I continued like that I would lose my humanity. That negative thoughts would make me turn into a bad spirit. He also told me that most of the bad spirits around aren't evil people, but souls mired in sorrow who end up transforming into that, and no one would be able to help me if I let that happen. But it's hard to snap out of that mindset when you're dead. In life, moods change easily. In death you are trapped in them. Like a genjutsu. That's how I was."

Obito listend in silence watching the almost extinguished flames blink between the embers.

"Sometimes I went to visit you guys, but my negativity was contagious. One day when I felt the presence of Kakashi-kun next to my grave, I appeared at his side. I wanted to talk to him so badly, but I only managed to make him shiver with cold by absorbing his energy and using it to materialize for a split second. He saw me and ran away terrified, thinking he was losing his mind. Some months later... I went to see you. You were in a small town, following someone. It was foggy. You were wearing a mask, but I didn't have to see your face to know you were upset. I remembered then that it was my birthday, and you were thinking of me a lot, so, without knowing it, you summoned me. I also tried to send you a sign to let you know I was with you. At that moment, a funeral bell rang in a temple and when you heard it you stopped walking, you teleported to another place, ripped your mask off your face and started crying and kicking stuff."

Although Obito had her alive and by his side, it was painful for him to think about everything related to the life he led in that other time line after his accident. He didn't have a single positive memory from after watching Rin die, except those related to having Deidara as partner. That was a beautiful parenthesis in which he should have stayed, and even those were stained by the bitterness of his last conversation with him."

"Don't tell me that in the end you became a bad spirit."

Rin shook her head.

"Someone unexpected saved me. Do you want to know who?"

"Tell me."

"Isobu did it. When I died as the jinchuuriki of the three-tailed beast, we both did, and that link continued there until he was resummoned. He went to find me, cheered me up and we became friends. Thanks to him I was able to get out of the mindset I was trapped in and although the guilt over having caused you both so much pain with my death remained there, I knew that the best thing was to stay strong and keep watching over you."

"Isobu..."

Obito's mind came up with many theories at once, but none remotely close to the fact that the three tails had talked to Rin in the afterlife.

"Isobu is very kind. Although same as King Enma, he's also scary at first sight. He stayed with me until he was resummoned. I gave him a message for you, but it doesn't seem like it reached you."

"No," Obito confirmed. "Isobu was sealed in Yagura later, his seal was already expressly designed to completely supress the tailed beast's power."

After the second reinvocation, when he and Deidara went to that lake to capture him, Isobu tried to communicate with him once. Already while sealing the two previous tailed beasts in the Gedo statue, both bijuu tried to convince him not to do what he was doing. He thought the sanbi was doing the same and that's why Obito refused to listen to him.

"What was the message?" He asked. He needed to know, even if he was afraid of finding out.

"I told him to tell you that I believe in you and that you will find the right path again."

His heart skipped a beat.

"You should have been furious."

"Your intention was to save people from suffering. You were trying to achieve it in the wrong way, but I had faith in you. I knew you would do your best and that someday you would realize it. And it happened... You're back, and I know you've learned in the process."

Rin was alive, Kakashi had taken as students three Uchiha children now that it wasn't mandatory to enter the police foce. The three of them were all chuunin already. War ended earlier than planned and Deidara was fine, growing happy in a peaceful environment. Obito knew that the balance of his trip to the past had been positive. It was at times like that when he was aware of it. Sometimes he tended to forget about it.

"But promise me that if something bad happens again, you'll get over it and move on," Rin added.

"I learned that lesson well," Obito said, feeling slightly attacked. "But you have my word."

"That's right, Obito. Bad things can't be avoided all the time. You have to get up and keep walking for those who are still here."

"That reminds me... Naruto hasn't been born yet in this timeline. He should have done it in October last year."

"Naruto?"

"The son of Minato-sensei and Kushina-san. I hoped I could protect him from suffering too. Maybe become his sensei, if his parents allow it."

"I think they would be proud to have you as the sensei of their first child," Rin said. "I wonder what has caused this change."

After the fire died out, only the incandescent embers remained, there wasn't much light, but Obito guessed she was lost in her thoughts.

And then as if someone had whispered it in his ear, he knew the answer.

"Asura is waiting for Indra to be born again together. But Indra is still incarnated, unlike in the other time line."

Nor could he explain how he suddenly knew that Indra's soul was reincarnated in Madara. The fragment of the juubi chakra had made him gain some knowledge about the history of the Otsutsuki family. As if those facts were attached to it.

"Who are you talking about now?" Rin sounded confused.

"Madara Uchiha, the old man who planned my accident and rescue so that I could take over his plan after his death. He's still alive. I always thought that by losing Zetsu and not being able to get to me, he would end up disconnecting from the jubokko tree that keeps him alive. He is an incarnation of the soul of Indra Otsutsuki, the eldest son of the legendary sage of the six paths. And his brother Asura is waiting for him to be born again together. They have some issue to fix, it seems."

He could never find the chance to go to the place where Madara was without having to give more explanations than he was willing to, but he had to go. The old man could depend on the power of the tree to live, but his mind still worked well and he had those artificial humans serving him.

"Do you think he's still alive?"

"I know he's still alive. I don't understand well how I can feel it, but I do, " Obito paused, lamenting in his head for having postponed the matter so much, he hadn't felt ready to face it without losing it. "I should pay him a visit."

"Remember you can ask me for help," Rin said.

"I will. I think I won't be able to do this alone. Getting permission to go without anyone else wondering why... It's gonna be hard."

Putting Kakashi in the loop was out of the question. From there, their possibilities were significantly reduced.

"Obito... There's a reason why I'm telling you this. While I was dead, I met Deidara a few times."

He dug his nails into the palm of his hand until he hurt himself. Anything related to Deidara used to bring to his mind the saddest memories associated with him, fading the good ones.

"You saw him?"

"Once I felt that you were lonely, I went to keep you company for a while and he was there with you."

He was lucky it was dark. That way Rin wouldn't see him wiping away his tears. If he spoke now Rin was going to notice it so he waited to calm down.

"He... He went to see me?"

"I saw him with you several times. But he was in the same situation I was at first, stuck in a negative mindset. I assumed that if he was with you, he must have been someone important to you, so I tried to help him. I wanted to prevent him to turn into a bad spirit, as it almost happened to me. But I don't know why, I couldn't reach him. Maybe he didn't want to be helped."

Obito closed his eyes, thinking about the months after Deidara's death, imagining him at his side. A ghost radiating negativity anchored to him. And undoubtedly he had ended up like that because of him.

"It could be," Obito muttered. "Thanks for trying to get him out of there at least."

"I couldn't let him vanish."

"I won't fail him again," he said, more to himself than to Rin. At that moment he was overcome with a terrible need to be alone and think about the matter. " I'll do the first watch, if you don't mind."

"You're the one that needs to rest. Go to sleep, Obito. I'll wake you up in a few hours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You need it."

He didn't contradict her. It was true that he was exhausted, more mental than physically. He got into the tent that shared with two of the boys, careful not to wake them up, laid down and closed his eyes, although he couldn't fall asleep. A part of him wished he hadn't discovered that Deidara never went away from him. Now he felt worse than before.

He wished he would have hugged him one last time when they met after the impure summoning was cast.

The light of dawn filtered through the tent when he finally managed to fall asleep. Failing to her word, Rin didn't go to wake him up.

* * *

 

They walked along a path flanked by an immense rib cage which must have belonged to some legendary animal. Rin stopped next to one of the spiky bones and looked up, maybe trying to calculate how tall it was.

The whole area was littered with skeletons of colossal dimensions that gave Obito bitter memories.

"It's a curious place," he heard her mutter.

"Only curious?"

"It's like a place of transition between two worlds. Legendary creatures come here when they feel their death approaching.

"That was the reason why Uchiha Madara settled here," Obito said.

Pretentious, but typical of him wanting to die where the legends die.

They carried on walking, examining the surroundings until they passed by the skull of something similar to a dragon. Information about the place started to arrive to Obito's mind. He was already used to it, every time he spoke about anything related to Hagoromo's family.

"In this place, the children of Kaguya Otsutsuki and their families founded a town," Obito said. "Said town's Its ruins must still be under the ground. It was here where first Great Jubokko tree which activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi for the first time sprouted."

"It's still hard for me to get used to the idea that this legend really happened," Rin peeked into one of the skull's eye sockets. "Maybe that familiar energy attracted Indra's soul here."

"It's another way of looking at it," Obito said, considering it might have been like that instead of what he initially thought.

But after discovering that Madara had actually framed him so Obito would owe him his life, and then prepared him to carry out what he was too old to do, Obito had a hard time not thinking ill of him. Rin was staring at him, her grimace as grim as his.

"I don't know what's going to happen when we meet him," she said. "Madara should pay for killing a Konoha ninja and impersonate him to take you to a trap, but we have no way to justify how we found out.

Obito let out a weary sigh.

"I'll convince him to disconnect himself from the tree and then we'll bury him right there."

Obito would have wanted to take him to the Uchiha cemetery, had he not known that if he happened to appear in the village with Madara's body, he would not be able to prevent a huge investigation.

"It doesn't make sense to keep clinging to life if histime has passed already. And for such a purpose..."

Both entered a small cave hidden among brambles that they had to cut. Obito took out the torch in his bag and lit it.

"When we reach the end, I'll use kamui," Obito whispered.

Teleporting short distances once in a while wouldn't harm his eye.

"I'm ready," Rin said, when they stopped at the dead end.

Maybe they would have to fight, they had already talked about what they'd find down there.

The cavern hadn't changed much in those years. Obito swapped again to the ordinary Sharingan as soon as they appeared, in front of a grizzled and wrinkled Madara whose hair touched the floor.

"Intruders!" He yelled as he and Obito made eye contact. "Who are you!? What are you doing here!?"

He noticed by his peripheral vision how the artificial humans hanging on the tree began to move.

"You know well who I am," Obito answered. "We have something to settle you and I, Uchiha Madara."

Rin pulled firmly from his arm at that moment, just when a boy with straight, maroon hair that seemed to reach his knees, was going to stab him in the back, using a long black cylinder. Obito saw the glow of the rinnegan between auburn hair.

"Nagato!" He yelled in surprise.

Of course.

He should have known that if Madara couldn't catch him, he'd go after Nagato next. After all, he had already implanted the rinnegan in him. Seeing that Obito had recognized him, the Uzumaki hesitated, but soon attacked again, producing a second black cylinder.

"Stop before I'm forced to hurt you!" Obito insisted. "We don't want to fight!"

Nagato growled.

"You're not welcome in this place!"

The bars rotated quickly in his hands. After removing a kunai from his pocket, Obito started to block the hundreds of blows he was receiving, aided by his sharingan. Behind him, Rin sent a flurry of explosive tags hooked into kunais to the group of artificial humans had just come down from the tree, killing two of them and maiming a few others.

By keeping an eye on her fight, Nagato managed to brush his forehead. Stepping aside, Obito managed to avoid most of the impact, but not all. The throbbing pain that formed over his eye told him Nagato had hurt him, and immediately a trickle of blood forced him to close one of his eyes. He had no choice but to concentrate all his attention on Nagato and trust that Rin could cope with the artificial humans alone. Those years with her, he had seen her improve her fighting skills to an amazing level.

Nagato hit him alternating both black bars. He was fast, but nothing that his sharingan couldn't manage. Obito wouldn't give him a chance to wound him again. He thought about attacking instead of defending himself. Yes. He would tie him up until he calms down and force him to listen to what they had to say.

"I won't let you to be the new tool of the Tsuki no Me project!"

"How do you know about that!?" Nagato yelled, still attacking.

Obito jumped back and using the Mangekyo sharingan left him trapped in a genjutsu. It wasn't too complicated knowing that this was the rinnegan's weak point. Once Nagato couldn't move, Obito ripped the bars from his hands and threw them away. Then he took some rope reinforced with elemental chakra to tie him up.

After that, he went to help Rin with the rest of the artificial humans, of whom there were only a couple of them standing after his former team mate reduced them to ashes.

He didn't relax until he made sure none of them moved. Rin seemed fine, short of breath and with some scratches and dirt, but nothing serious. They exchanged glances, and a moment later her gaze turned to Nagato.

Obito didn't wait for her to let him know. He turned to Nagato just as he was about to break free. He already calculated that the rope wouldn't last long, but it had lasted too little. Now it was two against one. Cornered, Nagato ran to the tree, next to which was the Gedo statue.

Rin and Obito chased him, though not fast enough. Nagato made the statue disappear along with him, raising a cloud of dust that made them cough.

"He summoned himself away," Obito said, panting. "The Gedo statue must have travelled through the tree roots. I doubt he's gone far away. We gotta go after him."

"Don't forget about Madara," Rin said.

True. He paid attention to Madara again, Obito spun around and saw him on his knees in front of the throne where he used to lay down. When it disappeared, the Gedo statue had taken with it the roots that connected it to the tree. Obito pursed his lips. It was time to settle the matter.

"Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to settle this issue in order to carry on with the story. Madara couldn't simple be left there to rot and forgotten. That's how I came up with the idea of him using Nagato the same way he intended to use Obito. He had already started to transform him into a tool for his plan, so he just went for him after failing to capture Obito.  
> About that kind of reverse summoning that Nagato did, the Gedo statue is still connected to the roots of the first demon tree, so he just sprouted out in a different location. But he can't travel where the roots don't reach. Because the staute of the outer path is part of the tree, it seemed to me like a plausible way to teleport.  
> Hope you've liked the chapter! Three more to go! :D Thank you for your messages and your support!


	8. Chapter 8

Rin ran to Madara's side to aid him. Obito stood there a while longer, wondering why it didn't cross his mind earlier to contact Nagato before Madara did. He always thought that after failing to lure him to his cave during the incident on Kannabi bridge, Madara would take a long time to plan another similar move. All that time, he thought the Amegakure orphans would be safe. With the third ninja war ending earlier and Danzo Shimura's Root being abolished, Amegakure didn't suffer as much. A renewed and bitter contempt for the old man spread through his body as if it were poison, making him shake. The killing intent that radiated from Obito rippled the air around him. Madara must have noticed, because he turned his head.

"So... You came to kill me," he said.

"We came to talk to you about why you continue to cling to this world," Rin said, trying to lay him down on the floor.

"That's a nicer way to say it."

Finally, Obito gathered enough calm to confront him. Madara looked feeble and vulnerable there lying down, wrinkled gray skin stuck to his skull, more like a corpse than a living person. He told himself that the most appropriate thing to do was to feel sorry for him.

"Why me?" Obito asked, even though he knew the answer.

Madara stared at him for so long that Obito was starting to think he had passed away.

"The more goodness there is in the heart of an Uchiha, the stronger the curse of hatred becomes... And the more powerful you get. It had to be you. But you managed to escape and kill Zetsu. I never stopped wondering how."

"The only thing you were going to achieve with the project was to bring more suffering to the world!" Rin shouted, and Obito could see that she was holding back a much more violent reaction. "Who did you think you were to decide on your own what is best for humanity?!"

"I don't understand why you're familiar with my plan, but causing a bit of suffering, if said suffering leads us to achieve eternal peace is even a cheap price to pay. What does the insignificant life of a person matter when millions can benefit from it forever?"

"My miserable life may seem like a cheap price to you," Obito said. "But by forcing me to take that path, the only thing I did was to spread more hatred and conflicts wherever I went. I will continue to fight for peace, but I'll do it my own way."

"This is the first time we see each other, if I'm not mistaken. How could I force you to do anything?"

"But that's what you planned," Rin said.

"You're wrong, Uchiha Madara. This isn't the first time we see each other. I've been here before, instead of Nagato. I was weak and naive. The curse of hatred made me strong and I dedicated the rest of my life to your Tsuki no Me project, thinking I was doing the right thing. When I opened my eyes and saw how wrong I had been, it was too late."

"Nothing more than a lot of nonsense, none of that has happened!"

A coughing fit prevented Madara from talking. Without the vital energy that flowed from the tree to his bloodstream, he shouldn't have more than a few minutes left before his battered body stopped working. But Obito needed to make him understand how wrong he was before that happened. Or at least, he had to try.

He took off Konoha's bandana, concentrating on opening the rinnesharingan on his forehead. Since the last time it opened during the battle against Zetsu, Obito didn't manage to do it again, no matter how hard he tried. But at that moment, a tingling in his forehead indicated that the eye, as if it had some kind of consciousness of its own, wanted to open up.

And it happened. Madara got caught in the influence of the dojutsu. Obito saw his expression change as the memories of that other time line settled in his head.

"What kind of trick is this!? How do you have that...!?" He began to say, before another coughing fit interrupted the question.

"Calm yourself or it will be worse!" Rin exclaimed. "It's not a trick, everything you see actually happened."

"I summoned the juubi and became its jinchuuriki. A bit of its chakra is still in me. His power allowed me to send my memories through time, to my past self, with the intention of not making the same mistake this time around."

"You wasted the only chance the world had for eternal peace," Madara said. "That's what you did."

"Didn't you see that in the other timeline there was a war to stop your project?" Rin said, in a reproachful tone. "Humanity didn't want to live in a lie!"

"Humanity is too foolish to understand what is best for them, just like children who refuse to take the bitter medicine that will cure their ailments. The duty of a parent is to force them to take it, no matter how hard they resist. That's what love means."

"You are leaving aside the complexity of the issue and a problem whose root is in the mentality of society itself. As I said, I'll never stop fighting for peace. By raising awareness and not by bringing more suffering. There's too much of that, already. The results won't be so immediate, but you can't deny people the opportunity to reach the same conclusion by their own means."

"Let your dreams fly high and it will hurt more when they crash. Hatred is a tool to protect those we love, you'll never convince everyone to stop spreading it."

"Enough," Rin said. "Are you really going to spend the last moments of your life clinging to that mentality?"

"It was the only thing I had left in the world, girl. The project Tsuki no Me. And you just took it from me."

Obito couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He also felt sorry for his old self, whose thoughts were so similar. But it didn't last long, remembering that the reason why Madara lived there in solitude surrounded by Zetsus, was because he had chosen it himself.

"Someday, humanity will be able to understand the importance of living in harmony," Obito said, hoping that at least, his words would comfort him.

Without giving any sign of wanting to answer that, Madara cocked his head, looking at what was left of the old jubokko. Rin and Obito looked in the same direction to realize that a luminous and almost transparent figure had detached itself from the bust of Hashirama Senju encrusted in the bark of the tree, and floated towards them.

"You arrive when you 're no longer needed," Madara said.

Seeing the first hokage in front of his eyes still seemed like something out of a dream. Hashirama floated next to Madara and placed a hand on the left side of his chest, looking at him with a tender smile, despite the Uchiha's previous snub.

"I don't arrive. I was always here."

After that, he disappeared. Madara closed his eyes, with a hint of a smile on his lips and didn't move again.

"Ghosts absorb people's vitality to manifest themselves, that's why it usually feels cold when they're close," Rin said, bewilderment still evident in her expression. "But he radiated warmth."

"Trust that the ghost of Hashirama Senju will release vitality instead of stealing it," Obito said, lost in thoughts. "We better don't waste more time, let's go for Nagato. We'll bury Madara later."

His kamui teleported them back outside. Obito put into practice all the tracking knowledge he had learned in his life, searching for footsteps, or a sound of any kind. Until he realized, he could sense the presence of the Gedo statue.

"The Rinnesharingan is still open," Rin said. She was avoiding to look at him. "Why?"

"I don't think I can control it, I don't know what it is that triggers it to open. Until now it has always happened every time I'm in contact with something related to the Otsutsuki family. Sorry if it looks weird."

"Don't worry about that kind of stuff now, we must find that Nagato guy."

"I think I know where he is. Follow me. I'll tell you about him later."

Concentrating chakra on their feet, they went down a steep ravine that descended into the canyon of a dry river. He let himself be guided by that sixth sense that was leading him where Nagato was hidden. Obito could describe the sensation as that of a magnet being attracted by an iron object. Where the pull was strongest, he knew he was going in the right direction.

"He's very close," he mumbled, stopping.

With the sharingan on, Obito could make the most of the faint moonlight that reached the canyon. The place was wrapped in an unnerving silence, even the crickets they heard earlier were silent. Rin stood alert, watching Obito's back. After a few seconds nothing had happened yet, but the annoying tug reached its peak.

"Nagato!" He called.

The huge fist materialized in the air, right towards them. The statue wasn't yet very big, as no bijuu had been sealed in it, but it was strong enough to give them a potentially fatal punch.

Obito went in the opposite direction to Rin, to create a diversion. When the statue advanced to leave him again within its range, he could see that Nagato was connected to it through the chakra black receivers that came out of his back.

"What have you done!?"

Nagato's cheeks and eyes had sunk, making the shape of his skull visible through the skin. His gaze radiating a dangerous hostility.

"Obito! Do you know how to fight him!?" Rin yelled.

Dodging another blow, he ran to her side.

"I can get to Nagato and use my intangibility to cut his link to the statue," Obito said.

"You've used your Mangekyo Sharingan too much already. If you use it again, it may damage your eyesight for good."

"Do you think you could try to heal me?"

"I don't know. There hasn't been much research on injuries caused by the overuse of a dojustu. Maybe they aren't normal injuries."

"But if we manage to stop him would be worth the risk, before he hurts himself even more."

They had to run in different directions again to dodge another punch, which sent rocks of every size flying around them.

"Let's try something else before!" Rin said when they were close enough again. "Go to him, I will keep you safe with a shielding jutsu."

It was the best plan they had at the moment. Obito nodded before preparing to find a gap in his defense. Nagato was panting, exhausted from the efforts of handling the statue using his own chakra.

"Stop before you kill yourself!" Obito yelled.

The statue's fist crashed against Rin's chakra shield. The impact made Obito step back without causing damage.

"I don't mind dying defending the plan! It's the only thing I have left in life!"

Obito grabbed his left arm and pulled hard, Rin joined him, taking Nagato's right arm. They both managed to untether him from the statue, which fell backwards, breaking into pieces. Nagato spat blood as he fell forward on his knees.

And while Rin used her mystic palm to cure him, Obito thought that Madara had also told him something very similar. And he himself had been of the same opinion, in the original timeline. He had nothing else to believe in, nothing to support himself on except that plan.

"What about Konan and Yahiko?"

"They're dead," he said, raising his gaze to the sky.

His brain took a few seconds too long to process the information. Konan and Yahiko were dead. Years earlier than the original timeline. It almost seemed unreal. Obito was convinced that without his manipulation they would be fine, that they would found Akatsuki led by Yahiko. Free of the influence he used to manipulate the organization for his own purposes, Obito imagined them thriving, happy and fighting for their dreams.

And all that time, they had been dead.

He didn't need anyone to tell him to know it. Madara was behind that.

"Your name is Nagato, isn't it?. I know you are a good person," Rin said. "And I don't believe that your heart doesn't tell you this plan is the right thing to do."

"It is the only hope for this rotten society."

It hurt hearing those words that once could have come from his lips. As much as seeing Nagato shedding tears.

"Always. There will always be hope!" Obito exclaimed. "As long as you don't allow your sense of justice to become corrupted, there will be hope."

"Easy to say for you. Everyone I cared about is dead. Everyone who cared about me is dead. I have no place left to return to. War took everything from me."

"I have been in your place, and I can assure you that there is always a way out. And you will find it if you get up and force yourself to take one step, and then another and another. In Konoha you have your teacher, the sannin Jiraiya. You have your cousin Kushina against whom you must attempt if you plan to get the nine-tailed beast. And you know what? I'm not going to let you do that."

"We'll be by your side, too," Rin added.

"I don't even know who you are, or what you're after."

"It doesn't matter. We are going to support you. And even if you think now that it's impossible, you will get over this, Nagato."

Rin took Nagato's hands in hers, while Obito couldn't stop thinking about the fate of Yahiko and Konan. One died because of his inaction. Back in the day, he had enjoyed watching him die. Yahiko was too kind, too idealistic and similar to his former self. With Konan it had been something similar, except that her blood was in Obito's hands. Her betrayal made him furious, so when he went to retrieve the rinnegan, he was merciless, even brutal. She was the living proof that anyone could be saved from their own suffering. That hope, in the end, could prevail. Having annihilated his own ego to serve the plan, Obito didn't want to be saved, and for that he needed to destroy her. Both deserved to live this time around. If he had acted earlier about Madara, they would still be alive.

It was his fault that they had died again.

The push Nagato gave Rin when he got up returned him to reality. After being healed, he looked healthier.

"What the..." Nagato was petrified, staring at his forehead. Perhaps, being aware of his other self was for the best. After all Nagato betrayed him and the project Tsuki no Me at the end of his life. "Don't follow me. I need... I need to be alone."

"Wait!" Rin yelled.

Nagato ignored her and ran away.

"Let's give him some space," Obito said, who didn't feel like fighting for one more second. "Nagato has a lot to think about. We'll look for him if he doesn't come to us."

They both stood up.

"I'm worried," Rin said.

"Me too. But it's better if we trust him, at least for now."

Obito and Rin returned to the cave where they dug a hole on the ground to bury Madara. The task distracted him from his intrusive thoughts. Using a doton technique, he carved a humble headstone with his name. As soon as he could, he would bring him flowers and incense. In Konoha, in the Uchiha cemetery, he had the most impressive headstone of all, as befitted a legendary shinobi, even though the tomb was empty. But it had to be like that.

Rin seemed to be praying a silent prayer. Obito didn't want to interrupt her, despite his need to be distracted from the guilt about Konan and Yahiko.

"I went back to amend my mistakes, but I'm committing new ones."

"Oh no. Don't fall into that again," Rin replied.

"I don't forget the promise I made you. But because of my inaction, Konan and Yahiko have died."

"Blame Madara, not yourself. You're doing it right, Obito. It's impossible to do it perfect, but you're always doing your best and that's what matters."

His best wasn't good enough. Obito wasn't convinced yet, but he simply nodded. Too jaded to carry on with the conversation.

"Let's return to Konoha. I can't wait to get out of this damn cave."

* * *

"Are you happy with a C rank mission today, Obito-kun? I have nothing else. Everything is so quiet lately..."

"That's not a problem. I'll be more than happy to do whatever you need me to do, Hokage-sama," Obito replied.

Kushina wrinkled her lips in a pout.

"When are you going to stop addressing me with such respect, dattebane?"

"An Hokage should always be addressed appropriately."

"So what. I'm still Kushina. I may have this fancy hat on all the time now but..." she said, tilting her hat a little. "But since it doesn't seem you're going listen to me any time soon, then as your Hokage I command you to treat me more casually."

"It shall be done as you say, Hokage-sama."

She narrowed her eyes. Everyone was taken by surprise when the Yondaime passed the hat to his wife. According to him, Konoha no longer needed a strategist Hokage but a diplomat one. In those seventeen years in office, Minato had carried out major reforms in the way the hidden village operated. He got rid of outdated and unproductive traditions and modernized them. The most important thing at that time according to Minato, was to strengthen ties with other nations so that peace would last.

Kushina used to be to Obito like a big sister, but since the day he earned the memories from his former self, he hadn't been able to feel relaxed around her again. In addition, he had to put all his efforts into containing his chakra when he was in front of her. Being the bearer of a fragment of the juubi's chakra, Obito could feel Kurama's when Kushina was close enough to him. He didn't know if it that also happened in reverse, but he wouldn't risk it.

"I think that from now on, my favorite member of Team Minato will be Kakashi-kun," she said, pretending to be hurt.

"Well, everyone else liked him more anyway. I'm used to it by now," when he saw her roll her eyes, Obito continued, the sooner he had the details of the task, the sooner he could leave. "What's that mission about?"

Remembering the reason why she had called him to her office, Kushina took a scroll from the drawer and unrolled it.

"The Union of Merchants from in the rural area of Konoha requires a shinobi to ensure order and stop bandits and thieves in the spring market. You should be around the market today and tomorrow, beginning at eight in the morning and ending at five in the afternoon to guarantee the safety of both customers and their money and sellers and their merchandise."

The idea of doing a mission right in that place raised his spirits. Obito smiled.

"It's perfect because I was thinking about going to the spring market anyway."

"I send you there to work, not to go shopping, dattebane!" The Hokage reminded him, tapping the table surface with her fingernail.

"And maybe I can do both. With my sharingan..."

"Obito be serious! There is a commission for work efficiency and the more mistakes you make, the smaller it will be. Do not risk losing the commission, or I'll pay you half."

Of all that, the least thing he cared about was the pay. He could live well with his savings and inheritance, but he needed to end the conversation as soon as possible and go see Rin. And for that, the Hokage had to be happy with him.

"I'll put all my effort, Kushina. I promise. I like the mission. Although Fugaku-sama won't be amused to see an Uchiha doing things worthy of a chuunin."

"Unfortunately for Fugaku-sama, it's me who's sitting in this office," Kushina said with a tight smile, as if she already had several comebacks prepared and was wishing that someone would complain to let them out.

"Leave everything in my hands, I'll get that commission for you," Obito said, picking up the scroll the Hokage threw at him. "If there's nothing else I need to know, I'll be off."

He spun around toward the door.

"Just one more thing," Kushina said. "You're still my favorite, dattebane."

The affection in her expression still brought up guilt, remembering the night she and Minato-sensei died. But Obito nodded, and muttered a quiet 'thank you' before leaving. The warmth that her compliment caused and the bitterness of not feeling worthy of it swirling in his chest.

He quickened his pace as he left the Hokage Tower. May was close and that always put him in a good mood. Obito ran, nimble and impatient through the streets of Konoha, on his way to the hospital. He crossed paths with Minato-sensei and the kids near the entrance.

"Hello, Obito-niichan!" The four of them said at once.

"Hello, Naruto, Menma, Nori, Tamagi! Good morning Minato-sensei!"

With one child in each hand, another clinging to his neck and Naruto running around, his former teacher wasn't able to return the greeting except by a slight nod. Soon he had left them behind.

Of course, Minato and Kushina were that kind of couple who wanted a big family. He hadn't thought about it before she announced her second pregnancy, but at that moment he knew there were more on the way.

But he was content to see Naruto grow up happy with his parents and siblings.

Since everyone at the hospital already knew him well and Rin wasn't busy with any patient, they let him go to see her immediately.

"You're lucky, I was about to go home to sleep," Rin said as she rolled up a scroll she was reading.

"Again on the early morning shift?" He asked, maybe he shouldn't have bothered her.

"Unfortunately yes. But it can't be helped... What's the matter? You're in a good mood today."

"Is it so obvious?"

Rin smiled at him.

"You look more cheerful than usual.

"I need a favor. Do you think Tsukihime could help me with something?"

"Oh! That must mean that Deidara's birthday is coming."

Obito couldn't help his smile from turning into a grin. He didn't mind being so obvious. That date would always be in his head.

"It is. Do you think it's possible that she...?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Taking a scalpel, Rin pricked her index finger. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

The palm of her hand hit the table, a seal of smoke formed around it, summoning a tiny red-eyed white rabbit.

"Say no more," was the first thing she said, in a high-pitched voice. "It's Deidara's birthday."

Rin looked at Obito and laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.

"It's the only day when I can have some kind of contact with him," he said. "Even if it's one sided."

Sometimes he wished there could be more.

"And what do I get in return?" Tsukihime asked, tapping the table with one of her hind legs. "Always doing favors for free, Iwagakure isn't that close."

"Obito will bring you a basket full of strawberries with which you can bake delicious cakes," Rin explained.

"Will I?" Obito murmured, raising an eyebrow, although in reality he had no choice. If it was for Deidara, the price was fair.

"I can't wait to have those heavenly delights in my power! I'll write it down in my diary, I'm a busy girl," she chirped. "Goodbye!"

"See you soon Tsukihime, and thank you," Rin said, just before she disappeared. "So... How old will Deidara be?"

"Nineteen. He was the same age when we were partners in Akatsuki."

Obito's memory went back to those times in which they did missions together, and for a moment he stopped thinking about gathering the jinchuuriki and started to plan how to annoy Deidara for his amusement. He thought about all those times when Tobi hugged him tight just to see how Deiedara struggled to free himself from his arms, and then Obito disappeared under the ground before giving him the chance to throw any bomb at him.

"I'd like to be part of his life again someday," he said. "If they send me back to Iwagakure on a mission, I'll look for him. Although nothing has been going on lately."

Rin nodded.

"I'm glad you finally made up your mind."

"I always knew what I wanted. But it's not as if I had a good reason to introduce myself to him without it looking weird. And I never found a random occasion that would serve me as an excuse to make us acquaintances."

"That's true..."

"Besides, remember when we went to Iwa two years ago and we couldn't find him anywhere. I should have asked someone about him."

"I don't think they would have told you. You already know how the Tsuchikage likes to keep any minor C rank mission as top secret."

"At least I know that this time he hasn't betrayed his village. And that he's fine."

Tsukihime had reported that he was still living in Iwa, although in that timeline he hadn't entered the Bakuha Butai. The explanation he gave to that change was that there were no vacancies, more than half of the members of the Iwa elite corps had died in the third war. Due to it finishing earlier, there were fewer casualties and it shouldn't have been necessary for Deidara to enter. Onoki was forced to make that decision due to lack of personnel, but now he might have wanted Deidara to be a bit older, at least before allowing him to be part of the Explosive Forces.

"Do you have anything planned?" Rin asked.

"Not yet. It's not gonna be easy as a ninja from Konoha to communicate on my own with one from Iwa without people on both sides getting suspicious.

"It must be an occasion when he comes here or you go there."

"It could take years until that happens. I'll think of something."

"Another intrincated plan of yours?" Rin teased him, getting up. "Can you tell me the details on the way? I better go now, before someone else wants something from me and I'm forced to stay for another half an hour."

His former teammate took a gray blue cardigan from the hanger and put it over the hospital uniform.

"It's just that I'd rather not have to wait much longer to meet him," Obito said when they left the building.

The need to see Deidara again seemed more strong and urgent than ever.

"Hmm... Obito."

Rin stared at the floor, like all those times when she tried to say something that could upset him.

"Tell me. What is it?"

"If you manage to get back in touch with Deidara, you should update him on the other timeline."

Obito took a deep breath, only to avoid thinking about the possibility that all the pain he caused Deidara would reach him again. He wanted to leave it buried in their past lives, where it could never hurt him.

"I've come to think of it," he answered. "But I discarded the idea because it would cause him unnecessary and permanent suffering. We left the old timeline behind. It won't do any good to make him aware of what happened."

"I understand why you think so. But... Don't you think that as long as he remains oblivious, you're hiding something important from him? He means a lot to you. Does your conscience really tell you that it's better if he ignores everything?"

"Honestly... Not. But after thinking it over I decided that if we ever meet, I would protect him from that pain too."

They bumped into Minato and the children again. Each one of them had now a cup of hot chocolate in their hands. After the effusive greetings, Rin resumed the conversation.

"I think you underestimate the ability of people to endure suffering. I am convinced that Deidara will be able to handle it, just as Kakashi-kun would, too."

"Kakashi is happier this way."

"And I have kept my promise not to say anything, even though I disagree. But don't think he doesn't know that something is off. He used to ask me apparently innocent questions with the intention of finding out which piece is missing."

"I didn't expect less from him," Obito murmured.

"Just think about how Deidara would react if he ever finds out everything by mistake. He'll suffer way more when he realizes that you have been hiding from him a part of you and himself."

Obito hadn't thought about that. No, he definitely didn't want that to happen. He would be in the same situation as when he was hiding behind Tobi.

"You're right. That is why I have worked these years in mastering the ability to open and close the rinnesharingan at my will. It won't open unless I want to."

"It's an almost divine power inside a human body, we will never know if you've controlled it completely. It could open again in Deidara's presence."

They were arriving at Rin's house. Obito had a mission to do, but he wanted to go shopping first and look for a nice present for Deidara.

"I promise to think about it," he said, to settle the matter. "I don't even know how to contact him, it's pointless to think about that now. I will if it ever happens."

"Why don't you send him a note with your present? Some way to contact you if he wants. It's about time that he meets the person who has been sending him gifts every year."

Obito felt like he'd blush for the first time in years. He tried to remain calm but couldn't prevent his lips from curling into a smile.

"He will want to know why. He can think that I'm a crazy stalker. And I'm gonna scare him."

Although something told him that it took much more than that to scare Deidara.

"Then we must plan it carefully," Rin yawned, searching for her house keys in her pockets. "Good luck on your mission."

"Thank you. Sleep well and see you later."

He checked in the inner pocket of his vest to make sure his wallet was there. What could be a good present? He always used to send him a block of the finest clay in the Land of Fire, the best valued by local artists, Obito had already informed himself about that.

But he wanted to give him something special. So he went straight to an arts and crafts stall and left with a wooden box full of carving and modeling tools that exceeded his budget by a lot.

Sure Deidara was gonna love it and it was going to be useful to him. That was all that mattered.

Obito beamed, walking through the bustling streets of the market, thinking of the moment when his senpai discovered the gift, wrapped and tied with a thin rope in front of his door, when all his mental processes were interrupted by making eye contact with a pair of blue eyes.

All those years, he had been wondering about fate, and about which things were subject to its law and which weren't. But straight after seeing Deidara there in front of him, the first thing he thought was that fate was involved in that encounter. And the second, that he wasn't ready yet.

"D-deidara-senpai," he mumbled, making him stop in surprise after hearing his name from a stranger's lips.

A couple of seconds later, Obito reacted at last and hid the box in his hands behind his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to do some stuff differently. The kyubi night was going to happen anyway, and Nagato would be behind it. I was going to kill Minato, but not Kushina. In the end I just killed off Konan and Yahiko, and gave four children to Minato (which can be a blessing or a curse). I did it because I wanted to redeem Nagato. I wanted him to be saved from his own darkness, unlike Obito in the original time line. And I have a better use for him now. 💛
> 
> In all my fics Rin always signs the rabbit contract. I don't know if this contract exists in canon or not, but I kinda think rabbits and hares suit her. I don't like when characters bite their fingers to draw blood, so I always make them prick their finger with a kunai or something. 
> 
> Well, two chapters more and we're done! I haven't written the ending yet (I'm on it), but I'll have it soon.
> 
> After that, I can start translating another longfic if you are interested. I have one about Deidara being the jinchuuriki of the yonbi. That one is finished. And I have an office AU, which is a WIP and a hate to love story. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

A faint grimace of confusion appeared on Deidara's face. His attention changed from him to what Obito had just hidden behind his back. He couldn't believe his own stupidity, perhaps if he hadn't reacted like that, it would have been less obvious.

"What are you hiding from me?"

Deidara tried to go behind him as Obito turned around at the same time. His mind hadn't yet fully assimilated that his senpai was there in front of him. He could drop everything on the floor, give him the biggest hug ever and tell him how much he missed him. Obito had to remind himself, that Deidara didn't know who he was.

"It's... Nothing interesting!" He said in a high pitched voice, unable to come up with a convincing excuse.

"If it's nothing interesting, why are you hiding it from me then, hm?"

"W-well... Because..."

Obito kept turning around as Deidara tried to surround him, then he stopped.

"Do we know each other? You just said my name."

"I..." Obito cleared his throat, he couldn't look away from that half smile and sky blue eyes that stared at him with interest.

He had a mission to start, what an untimely time to get emotional. He sighed.

"I'm surprised that people have heard about me here in Konoha. But yes... Sooner or later it had to happen," Deidara said, puffing up with pride.

To that statement, Obito could give an answer.

"Well, not many people are capable of making such an explosive art."

Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you mean that other thing. I should have deduced it, what I didn't know was that they also used them here. I never would have imagined it, knowing Onoki-sama. You are a shinobi for what I see."

Obito started to feel as if he didn't know anymore what the conversation was about, but he'd rather not let him know it. He noticed Deidara wasn't wearing his Iwagakure bandana. He wasn't there on a mission, but as a salesman.

"That's it. And I'm here to make sure no petty thief gets away with it. Where's your stall?"

"I'll show you if you buy me something, hm," he said.

His mission would start soon, and Obito still had to go home first. But the day hadn't yet come when he could say no to Deidara and not feel guilty for the rest of the day.

As he walked behind him, Deidara hummed a lively song. Obito made a mental note of every difference he noticed between that version of Deidara and the previous one, happy to see that he had an easier life thanks to the changes he made. He could still recognize the deeper core of his personality, with a livelier, less violent way of being.

"Hold on a second!" Deidara exclaimed, spinning around all of a sudden.

Obito stopped before he could bump into him.

"W-what happened?"

"You knew my name. But how did you associate it with me?" He said, pointing at him.

Obito let out a nervous laugh, trying to make enough time to think about something.

"That is a really good question. Actually we..." He hadn't yet considered the advice that Rin had given him earlier, but he had to make a decision. "We have met before. Long ago."

Deidara lowered his hand, blue eyes staring at him with too much intensity. Obito wasn't entirely happy with his answer, but as long as he couldn't decide whether to tell him the truth or not, it would be good to bring the matter up ever so slightly so Deidara could get used to it.

"It can't be. If I had met you before I'd remember it, hm," he said, getting too close to Obito to examine him better. "What can you say about that?"

Obito held his breath. Having Deidara so ridiculously close didn't help him to calm down. He had to keep his cool no matter what. He had to...

"You may have been too young to remember it. But we've seen each other before."

Deidara narrowed his eyes.

"Don't tell me..." he mumbled, hesitating. "Is it you!? The ninja I stole sweets from, hm!?"

"Do you remember me!?" 

But he was so young... Could it be true? 

Deidara laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach with both hands.

"Nah. I don't remember. But my grandfather always told that story to everyone," he explained, and in a serious low voice he added, "my grandson nicked a bunch of sweets from a Konohagakure shinobi when he was four years old." Another giggle, Obito stared at him as if under a spell. Trying to treasure in his mind the way his eyes crinkled up at the corners, the beautiful sound of his laugh or the shine of his hair under the morning sun. "I can't believe it's you. Grandad would have liked to know it. How could you let me steal from you?"

"You didn't steal from me," he clarified. "I had you in my arms, you found them in my pocket, you asked if you could have them and I gave them to you because I wanted to."

"But you could have said no. My mother didn't like it, every time grandad brought up the subject she said you gave me too many sweets. Oh, and grandad's friends thought he was crazy for leaving me so casually in the hands of an enemy. He always replied you looked like a good boy."

"Even though war propaganda from that time suggests otherwise, in Konoha we don't eat children. And we were no longer the enemy, peace had been signed years before."

Obito's smile widened, because apparently, according to Deidara's grandfather, he looked like a good boy.

"Anyway... How could you recognize me so easily? You only saw me only once in your life when I was four years old."

"Well, you know... An Uchiha never forgets a face. The power of the sharingan and all that."

Deidara made no comment, just shrugged and kept walking, followed by Obito, whose smile had barely left his face since he found him.

"Yes, I've heard something about that sharingan you're talking about."

Turning suddenly again, Deidara tried to look behind Obito's back.

"Senpai!" He exclaimed, after moving away at the last second. That was close.

"You called me senpai earlier too. Why?"

Obito's brain had to start working properly again, the unexpected encounter seemed to have taken all his wit away. And now Deidara was starting to ask too many questions. Maybe, since Obito was thinking about meet him and becoming part of his life again, he should show Deidara his birthday gift. That would keep him distracted.

"If you want to see what I'm hiding behind my back so much, here it is."

Still not fully convinced, Obito put the wooden case in his hands. Life always knew how to ruin his plans.

"Now I get it. You're also an artist and you're my fan, hm."

"Well..."

"Can I see any of your works?"

"It's not exactly like that," Obito said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But as much as I'd love to stay with you, I must go."

The mission. Kushina was going to murder him if he lost the comission.

"Oh. That's dissappointing."

Obito couldn't stand Deidara's dissatisfied expression, and he wanted to be with him so badly...

"But if you keep this for me I can stay a bit longer. Besides, I'm not going too far away, I'll be around here all day," they kept walking down the busy road. "If someone gives you trouble, let me know. I'll take care of them for you. Although I doubt you need me."

Now that he had Deidara in front of him, he wasn't going to let him go before they could call each other acquaintances.

"Maybe I will," Deidara smiled.

Deidara's creations were somewhat different from his usual style. He not only sold decorative objects in the shape of different animals, but also plates, cups and ceramic vases. All beautifully decorated. Obito couldn't afford to spend his time examining each item as Deidara took them out of the boxes to assemble the store, but he did it anyway.

"You are very talented," he said, staring mesmerized at the blue teapot in Deidara's hands, which had a big dragon carved. "I'll take this and a cup. It reminds me of Ryu-chan."

There was no way that Deidara could know that Ryu-chan was his own C2 dragon, which Tobi had named against his creator's will. Obito couldn't help to say it.

"It will be forty-two ryo, hm," Deidara said.

"Actually... I'll buy two cups, in case you want to visit me before you leave the Land of Fire."

Deidara stared at him with a lovely half smile. Obito's facial muscles ached after smiling for too long. Those ones weren't as trained as the rest of his body.

"I can tell how much you admire me. Okay, I'll visit you. And I'll show you my explosive tags, hm. But don't tell anyone, they're supposed to be exclusive for Iwa shinobis."

"Thank you," he replied. Inside, Obito felt as if he were going to faint from so much excitement, the warm glow of happiness in his chest, his agitation, his need to give him a hug, the awareness that he should tone his reactions down before he creeped him out. He hoped to be able to concentrate at all during his mission. "Really... Thank you. It means a lot to me."

"Good," Deidara nodded.

Obito reminded himself one more time he had things to do, and that he couldn't stay to worship Deidara all day.

"How much is it now?"

"Forty-two ryo," Deidara said as he ripped a piece of newspaper to wrap the teapot.

"I mean the total."

"Forty-two ryo," Deidara repeated, giggling.

Obito understood that he was trying to make him a gift and felt the twinge of guilt pull at his heart.

"Please don't! You don't have to do that!"

"That's true. I don't have to, but I want to."

"I want to support your art," Obito argued, hoping that all the noise Deidara was making while tearing paper wouldn't prevent him from hearing. "And buying it is the only way I have to do it."

Deidara put his index against his lips.

"Shush! I created this, and if I want to give it to you, I'll give it to you, hm."

As soon as Obito opened his mouth to protest, Deidara cut him again.

"Just because you're my fan."

He wasn't completely convinced, but Obito knew too well that his only alternative was to give in.

"In that case thank you again, Deidara-senpai."

He clenched his fists as he took a deep breath, because once again he felt his eyes tingling with tears. One of them, treacherous, slid down his cheek without him being able to avoid it. He wiped it with his sleeve, embarrassed. He wouldn't let out another one of those tears fall. He only hoped that Deidara wouldn't bring up the subject.

"The first time we met you were crying too. Grandad told me," he mumbled.

Deidara had interrupted his task to give him his full attention. Obito held his gaze, embarrassed but intrigued. There was no point in hiding now.

"Yes," he whispered, nodding.

Obito took the right amount of money from his wallet and deposited it in Deidara's hand. He noticed that the mouth he got after stealing that kinjutsu from Iwagakure wasn't there. Another change, although perhaps it was a change for the better. Deidara no longer had that self-destructing jutsu in his body.

A shudder ran through him as he brushed his fingers. Obito extended the contact for a second longer than necessary, staring into his eyes.

"I have to go now," he rushed to say, withdrawing his hand. "But I won't be far away."

His words took them back to reality.

"Okay, hm."

Deidara rushed to finish wrapping the tea cups.

"What brings you to Konoha, by the way? Are you on holidays?"

"What?" The brown paper bag creaked as Deidara opened it to put everything inside. "I'm working. Don't you see me?"

"I mean... Has the Tsuchikage given you permission?"

Deidara raised his eyebrows.

"And why does the Tsuchikage has to...?" All of a sudden, Deidara stopped talking. Obito noticed he was trying to supress a laugh. Until at last he burst out giggling. Slightly bewildered, Obito stared at him. He wasn't able to see what was so funny. "Do you think I'm a shinobi!?"

"Wait. You aren't!?" Obito swallowed thickly.

"Asisting to the ninja academy was mandatory for all the healthy children in war times. But a few years after the peace that changed and I quit, hm," passing him the bag, Deidara shrugged. "It wasn't my thing."

"Oh... I understand," Obito said, trying his best to sound casual.

"Although they tried hard to convince me to stay. They said I had a lot of potential," Deidara replied, as he went back to his previous task. The stall wasn't ready yet.

So Deidara was a civilian. Obito's first reaction was relief. That would take away many risks and dangers from his life. What he didn't understand, was the reason for that feeling of emptiness inside him, despite knowing that Deidara would be safer that way.

For the Deidara from the old timeline, his vision of art was the most important thing in his life. It was what defined him the most. Obito remembered how he used to hate it at first, but after admitting his feelings for Deidara, he ended up admiring his passion for art which went beyond manual work. It was only when his creations exploded, when the work was complete.

Obito remembered that phrase again. The one Deidara said that fateful night in which they had exchanged grim childhood stories. Experiences shape our identity and make us who we are. Otherwise, we would be someone completely different.

Obito had transformed Deidara into someone he was not. By changing the course of history, he had destroyed the pillar of his entire philosophy.

His mind started to work on excuses. He had managed to take away the pain he caused and as a result, no one was the same in that new time line. From Naruto to Kakashi. One was growing up with a family that loved him. The other, Obito saved him from the grip of his own depression. A few years ago, Minato dissolved Root and banned its cruel training methods. Discontent among members of the Uchiha clan no longer existed, and both Itachi and Sasuke lived a peaceful life.

Obito never questioned if Sasuke should really be a traumatized and tormented boy, with nothing in his head except that revenge, which he, deluded as he had been, believed it would be the solution for all his problems. Why did he then question that lack of need for violence and adrenaline in Deidara?

It was Deidara who broke the awkward silence, laughing again.

"I can't believe you were so sure I had become a shinobi. You probably thought I saw you once and from that moment I wanted to be as cool as you. I hope I didn't disappoint you too much, hm."

Obito tried to sound calm. But inside, other less desirable emotions were on the loose.

"Just a little," he teased, his heart pounding as he fidgeted, making the bag in his hands creak. "Come and find me if there is any problem."

He used his kamui to teleport back home to leave his purchases. It wasn't something he thought about in depth, but rather an escape route to get out of that situation. Obito left the bag on the living room table before sitting up, holding his head with both hands.

He never imagined that a reunion with Deidara after so many years would be so bittersweet. It wasn't how it should have been. His reason told him he was being too idealistic again. But the variation had been enormous.

Obito forced himself to look at the clock and noticed he'd have to start his missions in a few more minutes. He didn't want his soured mood to get on the way during the mission. The only thing he wanted was to stay at home, getting used to the situation and analyzing the latest news. He remained seated until the last second before using kamui again to return to the market.

It had been long since the last time Obito forced himself to work while being in a crappy mood. He couldn't concentrate on anything knowing that Deidara was so close to him. Sometimes he tried to avoid the sector where his stall was located, only to return later unable to resist prying into whatever he was doing.

He discovered that Deidara was more aware of his presence than he seemed. His heart stopped every time they crossed looks. Possibly Deidara would be thinking that he was a stalker, and he would be right. It was a strange contrast between Obito's already well-known impulses of self-punishment and the happiness of seeing him healthy and happy.

Catching a pickpocket distracted him from it for about twenty minutes, while a couple of chuunin came and took the guy away. Later, he got stopped by an old lady he used to help. Pushing her wheelchair was his grandson who was a boy in those days. Remembering old stories, Obito was able to give his thoughts a break. As they continued on their way, she gave him a licorice flavoured sweet. They used to be his least favorite ones, but since he felt guilty at the idea of throwing it away, he'd keep it in case he had a cough some day.

After putting it in the front pocket of his green vest, Deidara returned to his mind and with him, the conversation he had had with Rin a few hours earlier. If the dilemma between telling him or not was complicated, after knowing how much his circumstances had changed, it reached a ridiculous level of trickiness. Deidara was going to get madder than he had ever been before.

He was going to hate him. It wasn't just a possibility, it was a fact.

But if what Rin warned him about actually happened despite his efforts to avoid it, and Obito wasn't that sure anymore if he could control the rinnesharingan forever, the consequences would be much worse than in the previous scenario. Obito would rather live in a reality where Deidara didn't hate him, one in which he wasn't the cause of his suffering.

Which led to a third option.

It wasn't Deidara who needed him by his side in that timeline, his old partner barely knew him. It was Obito who needed Deidara. If he had to choose between staying in his life and risking hurting him or leaving and keeping him happy and safe, for him the choice was clear.

He felt like the biggest fool after waiting so many years to have an excuse to be part of his life again. He should have found out more about his new circumstances before committing an error of that size.

Comforting himself as best as he could, Obito thought that at least Deidara was going to be away from him. He would return to the Land of Earth and would only remember their meeting as something anecdotal.

A sigh of regret escaped him, while he realized he wanted to go home and never come out again, but still had several hours ahead. When they warned him about two drunk men fighting in an izakaya, Obito overreacted, being unnecessarily rude to them. Both seemed to recover their sobriety when he showed them his sharingan and they ran away from there terrified. He didn't even have enough mental strength left to feel guilty.

It wasn't lunchtime yet, but Obito wanted to go anyway.

He kept thinking while he ate his chicken yakitori. Renouncing Deidara's presence in his life for good was something Obito had never thought of, and he didn't know if he would ever get used to it. And that part of him that longed to have him by his side was hurting as nothing had hurt in a long, long time.

In the end, he couldn't help the urge to approach Deidara's stall one last time, only to discover to his disappointment, that it was closed. Everything had been taken away and the curtain was on. Perhaps he was out having lunch, some other stalls were closed too. Other merchants carrying food bags were busy reopening their shops. Obito had to stop that train of thoughts. He refused to think about all the lunches with him that they would never share and carried on looking for any sign of trouble.

He hadn't taken half step forward when a violent jerk of his arm dragged him back. It was Deidara with a bag from Ichiraku. And he didn't look happy. Obito remembered the other time line, when Deidara got angry and frowned just like that. Obito couldn't take his eyes off him.

"If you went back home to leave your purchases, why did you leave that case in my care?" He demanded to know.

"I... I forgot about it. Sorry."

He made a feeble attempt to break free, but Deidara was grabbing him tight. If it wasn't because he sensed something was terribly wrong, Obito wouldn't have even tried to release himself.

"Why did you call me senpai when I was a child?" Deidara asked, his voice harsh. "Don't bother denying it, my grandfather told me, I remembered it a while ago."

Obito was a massive idiot. That would never change in any time line. When it came to Deidara, he wasn't able to think straight or stop himself before screwing it all up.

"It's a tradition," it wasn't a lie, and it was an answer ambiguous enough to mean anything.

Deidara's fingers tightened around his arm, so much that it hurt.

"Do you think I'm stupid!? You call me senpai, and you look at me like that and you don't stop coming to see me...! Why do I get the impression that I'm missing something!? What are you not telling me!?"

"Listen, I would never do anything that could harm you. Never."

"That's not what I asked."

"But it is true."

Deidara loosened his grip without releasing him completely. He was still brave, not all civilians would dare to have that defiant attitude with a shinobi.

"There's something you're not telling me. I want you to do it, hm."

Gently, Obito withdrew his arm and turned his back on him.

"It's better if I don't. Believe me." He walked away, determined to settle the issue for Deidara's sake.

Not even three meter away, he remembered one more time the night in which they exchanged childhood stories and how a few minutes later, Obito left Deidara's futon and turned his back on him. 

He was doing the same this time round. He was abandoning him. Just what Obito had promised himself he would never do again.

He spun around. Deidara's bewildered and hurt expression was the only thing he needed to regret trying to go away from him. And damn it, he needed to hug him like he needed to breathe. But knowing that Deidara wouldn't appreciate unsolicited displays of affection helped him to contain himself.

"You are a stranger to me. But I don't seem to be a stranger to you. Tell me why."

"The truth is going to make you suffer."

Deidara snorted, as he used to do when he started getting frustrated.

"Test me. I'll be able to take it in, hm."

"I'm going to give you a few hours," Obito said, after considering it for a few seconds. "If after thinking about it you still want to know, look for me."

"I have to find you anyway. I have your toolbox."

"Keep it," Obito said. "It was for you anyway. It was going to be a surprise, but you found me before I could hide it."

"What!?"

Obito had no mental strength left to explain the situation.

"Come and find me when the market closes if you still want to know."

He would understand everything then, there was no need to dwell more. He wished Deidara didn't look for him, or that he did just to tell him he had decided he didn't want to know. But deep down, he already knew the answer. Deidara wasn't going to think about it, because he had already decided. He knew his stubbornness too well.

Obito couldn't stop torturing himself in those few hours until the market closed. His focus wasn't in the mission, and the least of his problems was to disappoint Kushina-sama.

When the merchants started packing and his replacement arrived, Obito took a deep, shaky breath. He was supposed to write a report and deliver it to the Hokage, but he would do that later.

"Need help?" Obito asked, seeing three boxes full of pottery on top of the counter.

Maybe being nice to him would make Deidara not to go too hard on him.

"I was going to rent a cargo bike, but I'm not going to say no to that, hm."

They started their way to the inn where Deidara was staying in awkward silence, until tired of it, Obito tried to make some conversation.

"How was your day?"

"Better than I expected, hm. I'm going to Tanzaku town next, I hope I don't run out of merchandise."

"When will you go?"

"The caravans will leave a day from now, at dawn."

It was a very short time. And Obito was convinced that after knowing the truth, Deidara was going to hate his insipid life as an artisan merchant.

"If you want we can speak when you're done traveling around the Land of Fire. It will be better that way."

"Are you trying to escape!?"

"I'm not. I will tell you everything, if that is what you want. But it would be easier if before that, you finish everything you have to do."

They passed through the gate that led to the inn's front yard. Deidara left the box he carried and the backpack on the floor.

"I want you to tell me right now," he said, gritting his teeth. "We're not going to take another step until you spit everything out, hm."

"It's not the best place to talk about it. I wish I could make you understand how much this is going to change you."

Not a shadow of a doubt appeared in Deidara's body language. For Obito, who had learned to read him better than anyone else in the world, it was more than clear that he was between a rock and a hard place.

The garden where they were standing was well looked after, a pond with water lilies, next to it a bird bath, bushes in bloom, flower beds and stone paths joining everything together. He resigned himself to the fact that the well cared for beauty of the patio was about to be damaged. He would have to take responsibility for that, too.

"All right. Perhaps I can thus apologize properly this time round," Obito muttered.

While he concentrated chakra on the center of his forehead, he felt the tingling sensation that indicated the rinnesharingan was about to open.

"Apologize? What for, hm?

"For all the suffering I caused you a long time ago," the rinnesharingan opened. "But first, forgive me for this."

Deidara's eyes widened, caught by the influx of the dojutsu and for a moment the red reflection in his eyes covered their beautiful shade of blue. Deidara looked fearful and vulnerable.

And Obito felt as if his heart had been stabbed a million times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's shorter than the others, but I don't know how many words it will take me to solve the drama that follows, so I decided to cut here. I was afraid that this moment would come and I am so sorry for Deidara but it needed to happen. I needed it to happen. I think leaving Deidara oblivious to everything was not the right thing. Obito should know that he is not being honest with his senpai. In one way, it isn't so different from trapping him in an infinite genjustu where he's happy. Yes Deidara will also remember everything bad about his former life, but depriving him of that part of his history is not right.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've split the last chapter in two. So now there's one more. Sorry about that.  
> Brief suicide mention tw

Deidara blinked, eyebrows raised as he took a step back. He started shaking and Obito got ready to grab him at any moment in case he collapsed.

"Tobi?" He stared at him, looking confused.

"There you go. That's what happened, senpai."

Obito should have guessed earlier what was the first thing Deidara was going to do after recovering his memories. It wasn't asking questions or demanding explanations. It was checking his hands, only to discover, with a grimace of horror that would haunt him forever, that his hand-mouths were no longer there.

"What the fuck have you done to me?"

Deidara's arms kept shaking, and Obito knew that this time it was out of rage.

"Listen to me, it never occurred to me that this would happen. The events have..."

"Shut up!" Deidara cut him off, his gaze ablaze with hatred.

He studied the palms of his hands, so close to his face that he could almost touch it, as if he expected the hand-mouths to appear by magic at any moment. Obito's gut churned with anxiety when he heard him breathe faster and faster.

"Deidara-senpai. Keep calm, please."

"I told you not to call me that!" Obito took a punch that showed the technique of a trained fighter, but the strength of a civilian. Too slow and weak, it wasn't hard for him to stop Deidara over and over. "Do you hate me so much that you bring me back to keep torturing me!?"

Obito knew that was exactly what was gonna happen. He had been one hundred percent sure and he hadn't been wrong. He deserved it.

"No."

"Then why!? Why do you make me see how you change reality to your liking!? Why don't you leave me dead and in peace!?"

The struggle wasn't too violent. Just by keeping his wrists firmly squeezed, Deidara couldn't move. His kicks couldn't hurt Obito either.

"I only gave good use to the power I...!"

Deidara spat on his face and Obito released him to wipe himself.

"They're gone," Deidara was looking at his hands again. "You've taken them from me. You didn't like me having them so you've taken them from me! You have changed me to your liking too!"

Deidara ran away from him, and while he chased him, Obito realized he was making the seals of a ninjutsu technique.

"Don't! Deidara, your chakra system isn't trained! You're going to hurt your...!"

Deidara bent down, resting his hands on the ground.

"Doton: Doryuuheki!"

"Don't!"

Obito grabbed his forearms, giving a violent jerk upwards. If he had used his sharingan he would've been able to arrive on time, he didn't expect Deidara to do that of all things. He felt the ground shaking under his feet as it started to rise erratic and uneven. Blocks of stone rose, twisted and crumbled. Not like the solid and firm wall it should have been.

"You shouldn't have done that! You were just going to hurt yourself!"

He felt the weight of Deidara's body increase when his legs failed him. Now that he had his memories back, he should know how to perform ninjutsu. But with his untrained chakra system and a technique of that complexity, the impact on his body would resemble that of a civilian carrying a cow on their back.

Deidara coughed, spraying the floor with red.

"Deidara, answer me!" Obito shouted, his voice shaky. "Deidara...! Say something!"

His head fell limp to one side, Obito felt an unbearable pain on his chest. He took him in his arms and ran to the hospital. His uncontrolled pulse didn't let him think well and in a tiny corner of his mind which had somehow remained sane, he had the certainty that a civilian with such wounds would raise many questions that he would have to answer. He would think about that after Deidara was safe.

"You 'll be fine... You'll be fine... You'll be fine..." Obito repeated, in an attempt to calm himself down.

Because having Deidara unconscious in his arms and seeing his chin covered in blood was bringing to his memory another horrible experience.

"Rin."

Why hadn't he remembered her before? At that time, she had to be sleeping, but it would be better if she saw him first. Obito was sure she would forgive him. The blades of his Mangekyo Sharingan appeared in his scarlet eyes. Obito conjured kamui and a second later, he was kicking on Rin's door.

It wasn't her who opened after half a minute that seemed like an eternity to him. It was Nagato.

"Obito-san," he mumbled in surprise, a second before noticing he was carrying an unconscious injured person in his arms. "Is that...? Deidara!? But what is he doing here!? What happened to him...!?"

"Nagato," he managed to say. "Please... You have to... You have to..."

Deep down Obito was aware that he was walking aimlessly around Rin and Nagato's living room, but he didn't seem to have control over his own actions.

"It's all right! Calm down!" Nagato said, putting a hand on him shoulder. The reassuring gesture didn't help much. "Come follow me and tell me what happened."

Obito followed him so mentally exhausted by the innumerable intrusive thoughts that crossed his mind, that he felt like in a genjutsu. Everything seemed unreal, from his surroundings, to the weight of Deidara's body in his arms.

From the top of the staircase, Rin gasped. He heard the sound of her footsteps on the wooden stairs as he followed Nagato into another room.

"What happened!? Obito! What is Deidara doing here!?"

Nagato led him to the doctor's office they had at home, pointed to a blue hospital stretcher, and Obito hurried to leave Deidara there. He heard Rin and him talking, but the conversation seemed like meaningless gibberish to him. Rin opened Deidara's top and put his head in a position that seemed uncomfortable to Obito.

He wondered, while holding his hand tight, if it wasn't too late. If Deidara was even alive.

"What do you see?" Rin asked.

Nagato's rinnegan gave off a faint glow.

"His chakra system has suffered great damage. Like when someone tries to make a powerful technique while being low on chakra reserves, only much worse. How did he end up like this? I never saw anything like it," he said.

Their voices also sounded unreal. Obito felt he was being pushed and when he looked, he saw Rin grabbing his arm.

"Obito, let go."

"No."

"I don't know what happened, but Deidara is with us now. That's the only thing that matters at the moment."

Knowing he was being unreasonable, Obito let go of him and got pushed onto a chair. Rin was talking to him.

"Deidara will be fine," she said, holding his hand tight. "Trust us. It's not gonna be a pleasant experience to repair his chakra system, I won't lie to you about that, but we'll heal him."

Obito looked at the wall, it was difficult to focus on what she said.

"...Are you listening?"

"I gave him his memories. I found him in the market and I gave him his memories. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have... I was right. I always knew that he moment I did it, Deidara was going to hate me again."

Rin squeezed his hand tighter.

"Obito, Deidara can overcome this mess."

"I've ruined his life."

"Who did you want to protect? Him or yourself from the negative opinion he may have about you?"

Something told Obito it was a mixture of both, and that his former teammate was right. At least in part. Not believing himself capable of assimilating the consequences of his revelations was also one of his reasons for not doing so.

Nagato had his hands on Deidara's head. A green and violet glow surrounded them. It hurt Obito every time he watched him wince.

"It isn't a pleasant experience. I already told you."

Rin seemed to be reading his thoughts. Obito looked down.

"Sorry. I forgot to take my shoes off when I came in."

"Don't worry about that now, we needed to sweep the floor anyway," there was a brief silence, Obito tried to think a reply but nothing came to his mind. "You should go to rest. I'll let you know if there's any news."

"Do you really think I'll be able to rest?"

"We have tranquilizers and I can brew some sleep inducing herbal tea."

Obito didn't think he deserved to escape his sorrow. He'd rather dwell on it. Shaking his head, he stood up.

"No thanks. You're right, I'm just getting in the way by being here."

"But if you need moral support, you're not getting in the way."

"Deidara needs medical attention more urgently than I need moral support," Rin looked knackered and it was his fault she was awake after a hard shift. "I just want him to get well again."

Obito got up and went through the door, followed by Rin.

"I'll keep you informed," she said. "Now go and rest, come back tomorrow morning."

Deidara let out a sudden scream. Rin hurried back to the room without saying goodbye. His trembling hand leaned against the closed door, tears blurring his vision. He was a massive huge idiot.

"Senpai..."

He didn't know how he was able to get out of there, write the mission report with an almost illegible letter and deliver it to the Hokage's office. He was lucky to find out Kushina wasn't there.

Then he went back home after having ruled out going back to Rin's. He wanted to be close to Deidara but staying there was pointless. Obito knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until they confirmed that Deidara was fine. He went to the living room, sat at the table and hid his head in his arms. He cried, furious at himself, fed up of not being able to avoid making him suffer again and again whenever their paths crossed. He saw the parcel with the cups and the kettle in the same place where he left it hours earlier. Obito took it and ripped the paper. Deidara had given him one of the cups for free, before finding out who he really was. He examined the cup, thumbing the white dragon's relief to feel its texture. It hurt to know they were never going to have that tea together.

So absorbed he was in his own mysery that he didn't notice the Rinnesharingan had reopened and something odd was happening. A sense of unreality invaded him as if the world and life were only part of a dream and he was about to wake up. He didn't want to damage the cup, so he left it on the table when he felt its surroundings turn and dissolve in a bright white landscape wrapped in a fine mist.

What was that?

He examined the empty environment, looking for anything that could give him a clue about his location when he saw Deidara running away from him in the distance.

"Wait!" Obito went after him, but Deidara only looked back once before running faster. "Come back! Please!"

Obito stopped short when he noticed the greenish-white colour of his own hands. Touching his forehead he felt those strange horns, he realized his body had changed again. The power of the ten-tailed beast was coming back to him.

"But why...!?"

He wished he could understand what was going on.

"The Ten Tails chakra is still in you, descendant of Indra. Remember it."

"Sage..." Obito recognized that voice.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki was at his side.

"I only raised a little the amount of Juubi chakra in your body and brought you here."

"Why!?"

"I have been studying the differences in the new timeline as you changed your decisions. Many years have passed since we last saw each other, descendant of Indra."

"I'm glad to see you, but right now is not a good moment to talk."

Hagoromo put his index to his lips.

"I know everything that happened to you today and I assure you that this is the best time to talk. Tell me... Are you satisfied with the way the story has developed this time?"

Forcing himself to calm down, Obito summarized his life since the day he went back in time.

"I have amended my mistakes. Some things didn't work out as I expected, but it won't be because of my wrongdoing. I never thought... That someone as insignificant as me could cause so much damage, or so much good," Obito stopped to consider a conclusion that summed everything up. "I prevented a bigger bloodshed, and I'm glad to have made a difference."

"Good," the sage nodded. "Because it's time for me to confess. When you died in the first timeline and I proposed this idea to you, I had several reasons to want you to do it and some of them were selfish. I apologize for not telling you before, but I needed you to act without prejudice regarding my reasons."

"There's nothing to forgive. I would have returned anyway, Hagoromo-sama."

The Sage of Six Paths smiled.

"Out of all beings that exist in other worlds I always had a soft spot for humans. I was sad to see them develop so slowly and not be able to leave violence behind. That was one of my two reasons to want to see you relive your life. You have succeeded on your mission and have earned my unconditional trust. My other reason had to do with my children, a father will always see to their happiness."

"Indra and Asura..."

"I made a mistake many centuries ago. My son Indra started to diverge from my teachings and forge another path. One that was gravely violent and with which I didn't agree. Said animosity lead me years later to disinherit him."

Hagoromo raised his troubled gaze to the white sky, Obito knew he was remembering painful memories.

"I shouldn't have been so inflexible with him, it might not have been too late to make him understand. I only made my son hate me, my philosophy and his brother Asura. His hatred was so strong that after dying, his soul reincarnated to carry on opposing my wish to see humans in peace and harmony. What I didn't expect, was to see Asura returning too. Every time Indra came back, my youngest son waited for him and tried to stop him. They fought each other too many times through different incarnations. Sometimes Indra won, sometimes Asura did. But there was something I never noticed when I was alive on Earth, all this time there had been a third person following them to fan Indra's resentment and use the Uchiha clan for their own plans. Someone you already killed the day you went to talk to Madara."

"That day only Madara and a bunch of Zetsus died."

"Black Zetsu to be exact. From the beginning he had been stalking every single Indra incarnation, and Madara was no exception. He knew that my eldest son had a hard time fighting his own demons."

"I remember seeing Black Zetsu parasitizing one of the artificial humans. But according to Madara he was his creation."

"That's what he thought," the sage sighed. "But that also was one of Black Zetsu's lies. It doesn't matter anymore, he's gone and wont cause any more harm. And without him, the myth of the curse of hatred will disappear at last."

"No! The curse of hatred is not a myth! I suffered it myself when Rin...!"

"Shhh, Obito boy. I know very well how you felt, but I assure you that the pain you experienced, although immense, wasn't so different from what any other person who had just seen a loved one die would have felt. A lie repeated a hundred times becomes a truth, and Black Zetsu benefited from its placebo effect to keep making use of the Uchiha clan. Had you had the will to overcome what happened to you instead of taking refuge in your own pain, a very different path would have opened in front of your eyes."

One of the last memories Obito had in his previous life came to his mind.

"Before dying I had a very vivid thought, almost like a revelation. I saw myself returning to Konoha after Rin's death. I saw how the people who cared for me comforted me and helped me gather the strenght to carry on. Kakashi, Minato-sensei and Kushina... With their help I was able to recover little by little. I used Rin's memory to pursue my goal of becoming Hokage and being able to change things... And thus avoid pain and suffering. I never gave that thought too much importance."

Only at that moment did he understand what it really meant.

"That was a vision. One of the powers of being the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails are visions. I had them all the time in life, for rather trivial things more often than not but they had their use."

"In that case, I will do whatever is in my power so that no Uchiha falls into a lie like that again."

"Thank you for everything, Obito boy. I came to offer you a gift as a token of gratitude for ending the vicious circle in which my children were mired, and to ask you to take care of Naruto and Sasuke in this new incarnation. Which, if all goes well, will be the last before their souls can finally transcend."

"A gift?"

The Sage of Six Paths touched Obito's forehead with his staff. A bright white light emanated from the contact. He felt a slight dizziness that soon subsided, possibly caused by the flow of new knowledge entering his brain. It felt as if he read an entire encyclopedia in just a second.

"I have given you my teachings about ninshu. Since your dream was to bring the world to peace, ninshu will be more useful than ninjutsu."

Obito understood many things at that moment. He was aware of the myriad of dimensions that existed, isolated from each other except for the most powerful Otsutsuki members. He understood that he was in one of them and that the sage had brought him and Deidara there. He'd have to deal with all the knowledge about spirituality, life and the universe that had made its way to his memory.

"I'm gonna need some time to digest all this," Obito said. "I thank you for this generous gift. I promise you I'll put it to good use. However right now... I need to use it for a more selfish purpose. Someone very dear to me needs me."

"There's nothing wrong with that. You've earned yourself being a bit selfish. We'll keep in touch, Obito boy," Hagoromo said before disappearing.

It may have been too rushed to give Deidara his memories back before preparing him for it. Obito would take responsibility for his mistake and try to explain everything to Deidara. But for that he would have to get him to listen to him first.

Obito took a deep breath. He would make use his newly acquired knowledge about ninshu. One of the black spheres that had been floating over his shoulder hovered to his hand and turned into a staff exactly like Hagoromo's. He grabbed it and concentrated on detecting Deidara's presence. Obito could feel the experiences of both time lines still separated in his head. They would start merging soon, but at that moment they were still independent from each other. Obito only planned to do it for a while, enough to tell Deidara everything he had to say.

He brought his index and middle finger parallel to his face. He reached out with his mind until he made contact with Deidara's, so familiar and confused. He kept advancing, slicing both consciousnesses apart like a knife would cut a loaf of bread, and separated them.

* * *

Deidara felt as if he was splitting in two. Not physical but mentally. He stopped running, watching in horror as his body divided in two. As if an identical twin he didn't know he had, had just appeared in front of him, his attire being the only noticeable difference. He wore a black robe with red clouds, an Iwagakure crossed out forehead protector half hidden by his fringe and an eye scope over his left eye.

Until that moment Deidara had been furious, but after dividing in two he felt calm again, if somewhat puzzled. He didn't remember very well what had happened after going to the front yard of the inn where he stayed with that Konoha ninja who treated him with a disconcerting familiarity, apart from a large red eye suddenly opening in the middle of his forehead. Deidara looked at his copy, whose eyes seemed about to jump out of their sockets.

"No!" The clone yelled all of a sudden, stretching an arm towards him.

His other self started to fade away and Deidara could see something in his hand, like an open mouth showing teeth and a tongue sticking out. His fingers were inches away from his arm when they became invisible.

He had to be dreaming. It was the only explanation that made sense in his head. He confirmed it when other forms started to emerge around him. Deidara was losing height. He wore a blue sweater with white stripes that his mother bought him for his fifth birthday. He recognized the place straight away: the fields next to the house where he grew up. Hiromu, the cow they used to own when he was little, grazed under the apple tree. A small fence separated the grass from the orchard. Turning around, he found the chickens. Deidara started running and as he used to do in his childhood, thrilled to see them follow him wherever he went. He circled around the perimeter of the fenced terrain laughing and jumping.

His laughter came to a sudden halt when he saw a child identical to him facing the tool shed. Deidara forgot about his game and ran to his side. The kid frowned and his swollen eyes told him he had been crying.

"What's wrong?" Deidara asked.

The boy looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Mum spanked me, grandad hates me and I am grounded."

"What!? Why!?" Deidara's mother had never spanked him, even when he was naughty, and his grandfather used to spoil him too much. Then he noticed that his clone's clothes were stained with blood. "What happened to you!? Are you injured!?"

"It isn't mine," he said, and fixed his gaze at some point in the grass.

Disgusted, Deidara covered his mouth with one hand when he saw the headless, legless body of what appeared to be a pigeon.

"Did you do that?" His copy just nodded. "Why...!?"

Why would someone make something so horrible? He wasn't in a dream, he was in a nightmare.

"It was very weak."

"Of course it's weak, it's a small and helpless animal!" Deidara shouted, shaking him by the shoulders.

He hardly reacted, but to avoid his gaze.

"If I am weak, someone will come to kill me like they killed all those people. I can't be weak."

"Dei-chan."

Her mother approached them, but ignored the fact that there were two almost identical children in front of her eyes. She also seemed to have been crying.

"Are you still sad?" The other Deidara asked.

His mother bent down.

"I am. But I should have explained to you why what you did is wrong."

"If it's wrong why those ninjas did it?"

"Because they were evil. The world is full of evil people. But I know that you aren't one of them. Harming an innocent being is very, very wrong."

"Liar! Animals kill all the time! I saw that brown and white cat eat a bird yesterday! The bird was weak and the cat strong and killed it!"

"Animals don't kill by whim or blood thirst like people do. They do it out of need to feed or defend themselves. And we should do that too. We mustn't kill or cause them pain for fun. Do you understand?"

His other self nodded still staring at the ground.

"There is a spider trapped in the tub. Do you want us to go together to rescue it and leave it in the apple tree?"

He nodded again, she took him by the hand and led him towards the house.

The scene vanished to form another familiar environment. He could smell the flowers that with the arrival of spring and the rains sprouted everywhere. The pair of swallows that every year returned to the nest over his window hadn't arrived yet. Later they would stop coming but Deidara remembered them with affection, they inspired many of his creations after all.

Disappointed after finding the nest empty again, he went in and closed the window. He still needed to finish those two sculptures. He took both clay figures from the desk, went down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mother and grandfather were drinking tea.

"Grandad! I need you to polish them before I can bathe them in enamel!" He exclaimed as he laid them on the table.

The old man examined both figures and then looked at his grandson.

"Don't you have a pair of hands?" He teased.

His mother laughed and Deidara snorted annoyed, entwining both arms behind his head.

"But you do it better than me! These are special, I want them to look good, hm."

"If you want to get better then practice, I've told you many times that's the only way to improve."

Deidara took one of the swallows.

"I know. But these are..."

"If they're so special to you, then it's better if you do it yourself," his mother said. "You can leave them and try other stuff and finish them when you feel ready."

He nodded.

"It's true. If I want to take over the workshop some day, I have to be able to do something decent, hm!"

"Very good."

His mother got up to wash the empty cup. The three of them turned their heads when they heard the main door open and then close.

"It's me, hm!" And identical voice to his said from the hall.

His copy was there again dressed in Iwagakure jonin uniform. He wasn't used to see people wearing it at such a young age. And it was even weirder when the boy wearing it was an exact replica of himself. He would have said it suited him, hadn't it been been stained with blood.

The other Deidara took the only free wooden chair and sat down.

"Welcome home," his mother said, and Deidara noticed her small sigh of relief.

"Can I have a cup of tea too?" the clone asked.

"Don't you have a pair of hands?" 

Deidara looked at his grandfather, he was frowning. He seldom did it. He also never heard him speak in such a hard and severe tone of voice.

His copy clicked his tongue, got up, took a cup and checked inside the kettle. There was an awkward silence that his mother broke when he was already sitting back in the chair with the cup of green tea in his hand.

"How was your day?"

"I killed a guy." Another silence followed his nonchalant words, the other Deidara took a sip, put the cup on the table, and pulled a kunai covered in crusted blood out of his uniform's inner pocket. "I approached him from behind... Grabbed his hair... And slit his throat like this. It was like... I couldn't stop thinking that I was gonna get caught but he did not even notice."

He accompanied each phrase with an explanatory gesture that his audience didn't seem to appreciate.

"Is there any way to clean dried blood stains from clothes?"

"Deidara, your mother and I would be grateful if you didn't talk about that so casually."

His clone punched the table. Deidara had never disrespected his family like that, not even in the midst of those difficult puberty years. His dream-self actions left an unpleasant sensation in his body.

"I know you don't love me and I hate that you don't have balls to tell me to my face. You suck at pretending, hm."

"What did you say?" His mother was the one who hit the table now. "That isn't true. You know it's not true, don't you ever say that again."

"Yes it is! The family business is boring. I'd rather die than spending my entire life making clay plates. This isn't art and you don't understand it, that's why you hate me!"

With a slash of his kunai, Deidara stabbed one of the clay figures, tearing off its head and one of the wings that shattered as they hit the ground.

"Deidara," she scolded him. "How many times do I have to remind you to count to ten before starting to break things and yell the first thing that crosses your mind?"

"Counting to ten pisses me off even more!"

The second sculpture suffered the same fate. Deidara was unable to look away in horror from the mess his clone had made.

"You said you still had to finish them," his grandfather said, picking up the second bird's head, Deidara never saw him so sad. Guilt was eating him alive even though he hadn't done anything.

"True. And now they are finished."

"Enough!" His mother grabbed dream-Deidara's arm and dragged him into the hall. "Go for a walk and come back after you've calmed down."

"Get off me, hm!"

"And when you do, you know where the broom is to sweep the mess."

Deidara broke free.

"Yes, I know you think my art belongs in the trash," he spat, going upstairs.

"Deidara, that's not what I told you to do."

"I need to change my clothes!" He exclaimed in a defensive tone. "You don't want me to walk around with my clothes drenched in blood, do you?"

"I better not hear you break anything else."

Deidara hurried upstairs while her mother went back to the kitchen and his copy made a rude gesture with his arms that she didn't see. He felt powerless watching his family suffer for someone with his same appearance, so much that when once in his room, he pushed him, making him stumble.

"Why are you treating them like that!?"

With a mocking laugh, the other Deidara spun around.

"I know very well what they're doing. Nobody else is going to control my life. Least of all, them."

"They worry about you!" He insisted. "Being a shinobi is dangerous! They don't know if the next time they see you, you will be alive o six-feet under!"

"That won't happen. Shinobis only get killed if they lose and I won't lose. I train hard every day not to be a weakling, hm."

"That you'll never know. Even the strongest die too."

"I know, I'm not an idiot. If I don't give them the opportunity to touch me first, they won't. Besides... Everyone dies sooner or later. Killing is just speeding that up a bit. It's not bad or good, it's natural!"

"If it is natural why do you try to survive?"

"Because if I don't want anyone controlling my life, I'm not going to let them control my death either."

Deidara was increasingly angry while the other seemed to have regained his composure just by seeing him lose his.

"You're crazy, hm. If you want to kill yourself so much, do it now."

"I never said I wanted to die right now," the other Deidara shrugged and he realized at that moment how hard he was clenching his jaw. He would never say such things. "Death always comes sooner than expected. Enjoy grandad's company, he has one year and ten months left, remember."

Deidara would not soon forget something like that. He barely managed to gather the strength to go to his funeral. Seeing the days pass by without him at home was one of the toughest things he had to go through.

"And those swallows that you like to stare at so much, this will be the last year they nest there. The female will get eaten by a fox in a couple of months, the male will raise the chicks on his own and then he'll get shot by a farmer who thought he was ruining his crops."

He would have preferred not to have that information.

"But don't frown like that!" His copy went on. He grabbed Deidara's arms, smiling. "Death marks the end of a cycle! What's wrong with everyone!? Instead of celebrating it, they fear it!" Deidara tried to break free to no use. "Do not even think about leaving, I'm not done talking! Everything has an end! And mine will come even if I stay at home doing what my mother wants me to do!"

"Let me go!"

Deidara struggled harder, the other held him tighter.

"Life is short! Be always true to yourself! Fuck others! Fuck everyone!"

After struggling for a while he finally released himself. Deidara punched his clone's face, creating a hole in reality which absorbed everything, including himself.

He was a few years older in that new scene. Sixteen to be exact. He knew it because that was how old he was when the third Tsuchikage commissioned that fountain commemorating the fallen in the third ninja war. It took him weeks to carve all their names on the central rock in the form of a tombstone, but having in Iwa a monument of his authorship would give him more prestige as an artist. Onoki's granddaughter watched him work.

"You know? I told my grandfather to call you, he was gonna bring someone from somewhere else cause he said you were almost a child, but I told him you were good and that we better entrusted the project to a local artist."

"I would never have dreamed of this opportunity at my age, thank you for recommending me. Although this is the first time I work with stone."

"Well, you must be good with stone too! This is what being talented means, and someday when I'm the yondaime Tsuchikage I'll call you to make my statue."

He giggled.

"I've never done people before, hm. They don't inspire me."

"Well, you better start practicing! My grandfather is almost one hundred years old, the least expected day he kicks the bucket and I want to look good."

A hint of grief invaded him as he remembered his own grandfather. There was nothing he wanted more than to be able to break the news to him.

"I bet mine is watching me from above, and he's proud of me."

"Oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that..."

"No offense taken. Enjoy the company of yours while he's here."

Kurotsuchi went unusually quiet.

"The truth is that there is someone I miss. Six months ago, Deidara-nii left the village. He had done this before after arguing with grandad but he always came back in less than a week."

"Deidara-nii...?"

That copy of himself again? And why did Kurotsuchi treat him with such familiarity?

"Next time I see him I'm gonna beat him bloody."

Deidara grew even more confused, the girl's last sentence worried him. What if she beat him up? He was innocent.

"Listen, I don't know why you're calling me Deidara-nii, but I haven't gone anywhere. I'm right here!"

She stared at him in silence, again his surroundings changed and the other Deidara was there. His hair was long, almost at the waist and tied near the ends. He was talking to a hooded figure whose face was covered by a yellowish-orange mask with black wavy stripes, like the coat of a tiger. They were in some kind of abandoned temple, judging by the lack of maintenance.

"A hundred bombs? No problem, you can have them tomorrow, hm."

"Good," the guy said, his voice low and deep. "I see that all the gossip about you wasn't exaggerating. Entrepreneur, efficient, Iwa's lost child prodigy..."

"What can I say?" His clone replied. "I love my job. And my clustomers have recognized soon that there's quality here. Not to mention the beauty of my creations."

"And still, you call yourself a missing-nin, even though your Iwa headband is still intact... What are you waiting for? Don't you say it's been six months since you left?"

The other Deidara frowned, glaring at the man.

"What is it to you?" He snapped.

"Normally, those who betray their village slash it as soon as they leave. Are you still thinking about it?"

The tension was almost palpable. Deidara didn't dare to breathe too hard, despite not knowing if they could see him or not.

"Normally, I raise my prices for people that come here with an attitude. It will be three thousand ryo now, hm."

"It's okay. I'll allow you to mug me like that. Knowing more about you made it worth it. You see, I am carrying out an important project, and if everything goes according to my calculations, your art will soon have a role in it."

"That's right." His copy puffed with pride. "There is no one in the world who equals me. My art is unique and superior. You'll see for yourself tomorrow."

"Indeed, that's what all the witnesses with whom my partner has spoken have said."

He seemed to like the compliment.

"Hey, I was joking about raising the price, it's still two thousand five hundred ryo. Pay me half now and the other half tomorrow, hm."

The hooded man rummaged inside his tunic, pulled out a wad of bills and started counting.

"When should I come tomorrow?"

"If you don't need them earlier, at noon will be fine."

He took the money the man offered and held out his other hand to seal the agreement with a handshake. Deidara saw the tongue in his hand was there again. The one he had seen before when his clone tried to talk to him before he vanished. Dreaming weird things wasn't a weird thing, what wasn't normal was to question such things.

"It's not gonna bite you, hm," he said, when he sensed the guy seemed unsure about it.

"Close that mouth first."

"Of cou- uh... One second... Sometimes it gets stuck."

Deidara didn't miss the condescending nuance in the hooded man's laughter. The mouth closed and the handshake could be carried out. The hooded man grabbed the other Deidara's wrist and turned his hand upwards. The tongue had come out again.

"I'd say it controls you more than the other way around," he said as he examined his dribbled glove.

"Tch... A trifle compared to all the artistic power it gives me. Those who know my name fear and respect me, just like animals have learned to fear their predators," his clone walked to his work table and pulled a large block of white clay wrapped in cloth from a drawer.

"Some may do it. For others, you are but a chick that fell from its nest."

"What!?"

The other Deidara turned around, but there was no one there anymore.

The next experience was too recent, it was barely two weeks ago. Deidara looked at his collection of figures made with the special clay he received every year for his birthday. May would arrive soon.

Before discovering it had been that Konoha ninja all that time, Deidara used to speculate about his secret admirer. He daydreamed about being able to show them his collection of animals that he expanded year after year. He still wanted to, but the guy had a lot of things to explain before.

"What can I do this year?" He murmured, taking the rooster from among them.

"KATSU!"

The explosion made him jump. Deidara was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice how everything changed again. Now, his clone's Iwa headband had a slash across the plate and he was wearing the black robe with red clouds he saw him wear earlier.

It was like seeing another version of his own life. Or from a previous life. No, not that. There were too many similar elements. More like a parallel world, one in which his clone could create living sculptures that flew and walked.

BOOM

... And they exploded. Of all the brief scenes that Deidara had seen of him, that was the one in which he appeared happiest.

"Come to see this, Tobi! You're missing the best part, hm!"

The Tobi guy also wore the red clouded black cloak. Another masked guy. Although that shade of orange was more vivid than the type of the previous scene.

"Uh, I'm coming, I'm coming." His voice was also more shrill. "My ears are sensitive, Deidara-senpai."

"Senpai," Deidara mumbled.

Something clicked in his head as he looked at the couple with eyes wide open. He didn't even know if that was a dream or the real life anymore. He had taken for granted that he was asleep, but on second thought, he didn't remember going to sleep or what he had done the rest of the afternoon or evening. If that Konoha ninja had called him senpai, it was because he had to be aware of the existence of that parallel world. Was he really? His voice didn't sound the same.

The other Deidara gave the masked man a dope slap.

"Dumbass! How dare you miss my performance for something like that!? You're such a bad partner! What was the mystic palm invented for!?"

"Ow! Don't get mad!" He rubbed his nape. "How about I organize a birthday party to show you what a good partner I am? You'll be the only guest, and we can throw together all the bombs you want."

There was something about them that Deidara found funny. Yes, that was a nice scene unlike the others. He followed them as they continued walking along that road surrounded by unripe wheat fields.

"I've never heard of anyone being invited to their own birthday, hm. And I haven't celebrated mine since I was about ten."

"Then that will make it even more special! I'm so excited!" That Tobi guy was too loud, he seemed like one of those people who didn't know how to stay quiet. "I'll have to work hard!"

"And I want a gift."

"Whatever my dear senpai wants."

His clone stopped.

"I want to see your entire face," he said, clear and firm.

Tobi froze, then uttered a nervous giggle.

"Whatever my dear senpai wants... Except that," he raised a gloved finger.

The guy was entirely covered, except for his toes whose nails were painted blue.

"Then I'm not going," dream-Deidara kept walking, his nose in the air.

"Fine! Don't come if you don't want, you'll see how much fun I'll have without you. You'll be the first person ever who doesn't go to his own birthday party. I'll blow the candles myself and you won't hear me singing happy birthday to you. Oh, and more cake for me!"

"Why not, hm? What reason can you have to refuse to show me your face? Am I not your 'dear senpai'?"

He walked towards Tobi. Deidara could notice a flirty hint in his voice that left him confused.

"Y-you know... How shy..." his clone's hands entered the other guy's cloak, Deidara started to blush, "uh, I am..."

"You don't have to be shy with me, Tobi."

With one finger, he moved his mask to one side. Deidara came closer to see the lower part of the man's face better. He wanted to find out if he was actually that Konoha ninja and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Deep furrows similar to those on his mask started on his chin, across his cheek and beyond what covered the black elastic band.

Then, his clone grabbed his partner's shoulders, pulled him down and kissed him on the lips. Deidara's jaw dropped. His face felt hotter, and he wasn't sure whether to look away to give them privacy or keep looking. Was he... Going out with that weird and noisy Toby guy in that parallel world? Without having even seen his whole face? 

He decided he would keep looking, even though his blush wouldn't go away. He watched as the other Deidara raised his hands up Tobi's back to his neck, carefully grasped the mask's elastic band and pulled it up. He uncovered the other man's nose, then his closed eyes and forehead, until it came out completely.

His heart skipped a beat as soon as he recognized him. He hadn't been wrong after all, Tobi was that ninja from Konoha. Half of his face was covered in scars, but it was him. And he kept kissing him, ignoring he wasn't wearing his mask anymore. Deidara held his breath, wondering what was going to happen when he realized it.

After the kiss they stared at each other.

"See? It wasn't that bad, hm."

His copy studied his partner, Tobi brought a hand to his face, looking terrified.

"What the...!?"

Yes. That was his real voice. He snatched the mask from dream-Deidara's hands and put it back on, as if he needed it to stay alive.

As much as he wanted to stay and see what happened, everything disappeared leaving him an annoying dissatisfaction. His surroundings were white again, and in front of him there was someone of peculiar appearance. Both his skin and his hair were the palest shade of green. He had baggy black trousers, magatamas on his chest and a staff in his hand.

"Apologies for making you wait, Deidara-senpai."

That voice.

"You are... Tobi... Right?"

He nodded.

"My name is Obito. Uchiha Obito. But in the previous timeline yes, you knew me as Tobi. The silly persona I made up to present myself to the world."

"Previous timeline," Deidara needed more time to think about it and at that moment he was too astonished to analyze everything well. "What is this place? What's going on?"

"We are in my sharingan dimension. It has changed a lot."

Instead of helping him understand everything better, that answer only raised more questions.

"What do you mean?"

And with a quick movement of his staff, a completely white garden formed in the air. Deidara was speechless. That was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. It was like being in a world made of sculptures.

"As you've already seen, we used to be quite... Close. I gave you your memories back, but you weren't ready to remember. I should have explained certain things to you before doing it. But I didn't, and I only managed to hurt you again. Before giving them back to you I must remedy that."

"Why do you look so like...?" He reached out to touch her face, feeling the texture of the hexagonal pattern on his right cheek and up the... Horn? On his forehead. "Like a deity from another world."

Obito smiled.

"You'll understand after my explanation," another movement of his staff produced a small wooden bench. "Sit down. I'm going to tell you my story."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Rin and Nagato are married. During that timeskip, Nagato came back to the village looking for Jiraiya. He wasn't there but was invited to stay as he's Kushina's cousin and Jiraiya is Minato and Nagato sensei. Rin and Nagato became very close and eventually started dating. They got married and moved to Rin's house. They decided not to have kids, but they love to babysit Minato and Kushina's children.
> 
> So we are near the end, and I felt that Naruto series was too constructed over Indra and Asura reincarnations and their issues (Naruto is the main character after all), and I had to address the issue because it was important. Will Hagoromo meet his sons again? He will when Naruto and Sasuke die, either of old age or whatever. They're not ready now. I imagine a very different path for them in this timeline. They're kids now, but when they grow up maybe they'll face one last challenge so they can forgive each other for good. One that isn't as dramatic. It's just, this is not their story. This is Obito and Deidara story so, like Nagato and Rin's wedding, it can't be told without it taking all the limelight.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't translate this one until now. Sorry about that. It got larger than expected, and then I just became lazy.


End file.
